Friday, January 15, 2021 by Joe Byrnes (WMFE)
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Ocala’s Martin Luther King Day march has been transformed this year because of COVID-19 into a food caravan to help those in need.
Hundreds of people usually gather to parade down West Silver Springs Boulevard, and that raised pandemic concerns.
The Rev. Eric Cummings of New Zion Missionary Baptist Church suggested the food drive.
“We knew that because of covid we did not want to have a big superspreader event,” he said.
Outrage, grief and calls for change took the nation by storm after the May 25 killing of George Floyd, a Black man with Texas roots who died while under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer.
On May 29, a Friday evening, a couple dozen people held signs at the southwest corner of Texas Avenue and George Bush Drive in College Station; the following day, a gathering of about 250 held signs and chanted âBlack lives matterâ and âSay his name! George Floyd.â
On the evening of May 31, several hundred people lined Texas Avenue for more than three hours; one week later, more than 1,000 people filled several blocks of sidewalk and grass in the same location as cars drove through, honking their support. The summer of 2020 also included a unity prayer event led by clergy, a forum featuring law enforcement leaders, and multiple protests on the Texas A&M campus.