A moment of silence is observed before the annual march steps off on Jan. 16 to begin the observance of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Long Branch. LAUREN CASSELBERRY Capping off nearly a week of events honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Long Branch officials and residents gathered around the monument for the late civil rights leader for a memorial ceremony.
The annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day ceremony took place Jan. 17 at the park named after the slain civil rights activist on AtlanticAvenue, and featured nearly 40 people braving the cold weather.
“We appreciate everyone coming out. We wish we could do something about the weather, so we can stay out here longer, but we thank you for putting up with the cold,” said Jacob Jones, Office of Community and Economic Development director, who led the ceremony. “We think the cause is certainly worth it.”
A group gathers at the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. monument on Atlantic Avenue for a wreath-laying ceremony and remarks on Jan. 17. The march and ceremony are sponsored by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Guild. KENNY WALTER The event was organized and sponsored by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Guild.
The Rev. Lyddale Akins, of Triumph Life Church, Asbury Park, remarked about the cold and explained how King’s message resonates today.
“You have coined the way to keep a [preacher’s talk] short — by having them speak outside,” he said with a smile. “[The civil rights movement] was a national makeover; I believe we had a King makeover.
“The King makeover shaped the destiny of our future and opened the doors for Barack Obama,” he added. “We can now honestly say to our children, ‘You can be anything you want to be in the United States.’ ”
Akins said that although race relations have come a long way, there are still issues moving forward.
“Dr. King’s legacy has allowed for us all to dream a little different, to continue a legacy that is not finished yet,” he said. “Racism still exists, the unequal education of our children still prevails in this present day.”
Akins said that the black community still needs organizations like the NAACP and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Guild.
“We still must fight; we still have a need for all the different organizations to fight and push and bring together Dr. King’s vision in our future,” he said. “We have to get to the place where his message is conceived by our thoughts, composed by our choices, confirmed by our words and constructed daily by our actions.
“We are not done yet in our makeover; we still have a long way to go,” he added.
Long Branch Mayor Adam Schneider, who attended the Jan. 16 march that the guild sponsored the day before the ceremony, described the feelings evoked at the march.
“We laughed, a few people may have cried, we cheered, and then we went home and watched the Jets win,” he said. “Reverend [Terrence] Porter had our crowd so fired up, we could have beaten the Patriots.”
Schneider spoke of the experience of attending services at African American churches.
“The black church is a great experience, and one of the wonderful things for me is that I get to go all the time,” he said. “It is an absolutely wonderful experience of love and joy and worship and laughing and crying and enjoying each other’s company.”
Before those in attendance circled around the monument and sang “We Shall Overcome,” Catharine Darby and Joan Minor, of the MLK Guild, presented and hung a ceremonial wreath on the monument.
Darby praised the community’s dedication to the King message.
“I look around and I see the same people the last eight or nine years, and I’m so excited,” she said. “It makes me feel so good because you are committed, and that’s what we need.”
Minor also drew a comparison between the community’s dedication to the cause and the Freedom Riders, a group of civil rights activists from the 1960s.
The services closed with a benediction by the Rev. Norwood Cuff, of Trinity A.M.E. (African Methodist Episcopal) Church, Long Branch.