Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Legacy
DETROIT (WWJ) - On this Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Detroiters are gathering to shed light on the civil rights movement. 2013 marks the 50th anniversary of the Great March to Freedom, where some 250,000 people marched down Woodward Avenue in 1963.
Abayomi Azikiwe is the organizer of the Detroit Martin Luther King Committee. He says the issue of civil rights is still prevalent today.
"We still have wars being waged around the world, where we have still not eradicated poverty, and where we still need to bring about full employment for people here in Detroit and throughout Michigan, as well as the United States," Azikiwe said.
The group is gathering at Central United Methodist Church in Detroit at noon for a rally to be followed by a march through downtown Detroit beginning at 1:30pm. After the march, organizers will serve a community meal at the church, as well as a cultural program that is being coordinated by Detroit poet and lecturer Aurora Harris of Broadside Press.
Central United Methodist Church is the church where Dr. King delivered his annual Lent sermons and preached three weeks prior to his assassination on April 4, 1968.
Click here for a roundup of MLK Day events.
