On a sunny but frigid afternoon, residents carried on a more than 50 year tradition by marching behind the banner of the civil rights leader, singing and chanting along the way.
Scenes from today’s Martin Luther King Day march and celebration. #mlkday2025 pic.twitter.com/IAiRNKgtqI
— WUKY (@wuky) January 20, 2025
"We'll walk hand in hand," one marcher sang through a bullhorn, as the gathering made its way down Main Street.
Afterward, warming up inside Central Bank Center, Frederick Fuller with Operation Making a Change reflected on the march's ability to draw a crowd even in wintry conditions.
"The march is powerful, man. It's powerful. And basically, the march is really about love," Fuller said.
MLK program co-chair Jonathan Bronaugh called the march a "beautiful thing," adding, "It just shows you that the celebration is real and we still got work to do and people still support that."
"All power does not live in Washington, D.C. In fact, it's on days like this."Christian Motley, Results for America
Speakers honored the late writer Nikki Giovanni, who had been slated as the event's original keynote, remembered local activists who have passed, and spoke directly to a loaded political moment amid the inauguration of President Donald Trump.
"Contrary to popular belief, all power does not live in Washington DC.," Christian Motley with Results for America told the audience. "In fact, it's on days like this, where we evoke the power that lives in every individual in this room, every individual in this city and across this great commonwealth to dream bigger."
Keynote speaker, Rev. Dr. Nyle Fort, an organizer and writer, ended on a more stark message. He delivered a sharp rebuke of the returning president, describing him not as an anomaly, but a "disclosure" of deeply-rooted elements in America's past.
"Progress always comes with a price."Rev. Dr. Nyle Fort
In a speech he characterized as a "buffet" of ideas — not all of which the crowd might have a taste for — Ford took time to detail pieces of King's biography not often included in textbooks.
Taking pains to describe the "man, not the myth," Ford also said King's legacy has been sanitized and reduced to soundbites.
"And I believe that Cornel West was right when he described Dr. King as America's Santa Claus, a kind of magical figure who comes around once a year to confirm our national illusions," he said.
To honor King and continue the work of the Civil Rights Movement, Ford said, there need to be concrete actions — ranging from reparations to demilitarization — telling the listeners that progress always comes with a price and "anything less than everything is not not enough."
