The Associated Press
The Associated Press
G.A. Breedlove stands outside of the historic Ebenezer First Baptist Church in Atlanta where Martin Luther King Jr. preached
on Monday in honor of the 35th celebration Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which took place online this year due to the pandemic.
ATLANTA Speakers at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. holiday celebration in Atlanta called Monday for a renewed dedication to nonviolence following a turbulent year in which a deadly pandemic, protests over systemic racism and a divisive election capped by an attack on the U.S. Capitol strained Americans’ capacity for civility.
Civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. smiles during a talk with U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, not pictured, in this undated photo. The federal holiday that celebrates the iconic civil rights leader is observed Jan. 18. (CNS/Yoichi Okamoto, courtesy of LBJ Library)
When the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. launched the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955, I was a 10-year-old boy living in an all-white Brooklyn neighborhood. Except when my parents took me on the subway, I never saw a Black person. I had heard of King, but he wasn t part of my narrow world. Then, in 1958, my father was transferred to New Orleans and that world changed overnight.
A pandemic spawned the lockdown of the National Civil Rights Museum the place where an assassin’s bullet left Martin Luther King Jr. lifeless and bloodied on its balcony 52 years ago.
Now, on the day that would have been his 92th birthday, the twin viruses behind the bullet that killed King in Memphis viruses that he spent his life trying to eradicate have forced the lockdown of Washington D.C.
Those viruses would be violence and racism.
They ve led to the virtual shutdown of the nation’s capital because racists have threatened violence during the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as President and Vice President.
WATCH: Memphis, Shelby Co. Mayors to participate in MLK Day virtual march By WMC Action News 5 Staff | January 18, 2021 at 7:26 AM CST - Updated January 18 at 11:16 AM
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - Memphis will continue to hosts events honoring Dr. Martin Luther Kingâs memory on Monday, but they will be virtual to avoid large crowds.
Typically there would be a huge downtown parade and a big event at the National Civil Rights Museum for MLK Day, but itâs all shifted online.
The National Civil Rights Museum remains closed to the public, but the museum is hosting a livestream at noon and 6:00 pm on MLKD Day that will highlight Dr. Kingâs work, the history of how the holiday came about, as well as a look back at how the museum celebrated this day in years past. There will be appearances from Memphis musicians, civil rights scholars, and a storytime that includes reading a childrenâs book about Dr. King to kids.