Members of the community and local officials including Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (third from left) take part in a symbolic march held annually in Long Branch on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The Jan. 15 march, organized by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Guild, began at the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park and ended at the Second Baptist Church where a commemorative program was held. LAUREN CASSELBERRY The life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. can be summed up in two words: Inspiration and purpose,
“What we need to realize is that we can find inspiration in anything,” Long Branch Schools Superintendent Michael Salvatore said at the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day ceremony held Jan. 16.
“Your purpose can feed the inspiration that can change the world forever.”
The ceremony, held at the park on Atlantic Avenue named in honor of the slain civil rights leader, was organized and sponsored by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Guild.
He told the crowd of about 40 people who braved the cold weather for the ceremony that inspiration can be found in unusual places.
Salvatore then drew a parallel between two influential people from completely different backgrounds: 19th-century philosopher Henry David Thoreau and King.
He explained that Thoreau, who grew up in Massachusetts, shaped the belief system of King, a black American from Atlanta, Ga. “What MLK didn’t realize was that the work of a gentleman born 90 years earlier would inspire him,” he said. “We don’t know what we are going to be inspired by.”
Salvatore cited Thoreau’s 1849 essay “Civil Disobedience” as influencing King’s civil rights activism.
He said that with the election of the first black president, we are currently living in the world that King envisioned during his civil rights campaigns.
Race relations, he noted, have progressed to the point where Long Branch students can’t even “fathom” a time in American history when whites and blacks were educated separately, ate separately and were even prohibited from drinking out of the same water fountains.
Mayor Adam Schneider followed, speaking briefly about attending an event in honor of King at Second Baptist Church on Sunday where members of the community celebrated his life in song and dance.
“You can get me to sing, but you’ll never get me to dance,” he joked.
Schneider said the church service is proof that the diverse community can come together and is not separated by race. “People of different races can come together,” he said. “We did it this weekend.”
The ceremony closed five days of celebrations in honor of King, which included Gospel Night at the Trinity A.M.E. Church on Jan 12, the MLK Soul Food Dinner held at the Portuguese Club on Jan 13, Youth Ministry Day at First Baptist Church on Jan. 14, and the annual Ceremonial March, which culminated in a service at Second Baptist Church, on Jan. 15.
Guild Vice President Catharine Darby said that this year more people in the community participated in the events than ever before.
Darby and former guild president Joan Minor then presided over the annual laying of a wreath in front of the monument to King in the center of the park.
Minor also said that members of the guild traveled to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in November to view the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial.
The annual ceremony closed with attendees holding hands in a circle as Long Branch resident Hollis Cooper led the singing of the civil rights anthem “We Shall Overcome.”