DAYTON — Many communities spent Monday honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the cold did not stop people from marching and remembering his dream.
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Hundreds of people, with a Dayton Police Department escort, walked up Third Street toward Downtown Dayton. The march ended on the Peace Bridge that crosses over the river. It was a shortened walk but no matter where it ended, dangerous conditions didn’t stop marchers from coming out to honor Dr. King.
“For us, I can do it every year. I’m going to be out here every year,” Herliner Dunson said. “This is the first year my grandkids and great-grands came out with me.”
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Dunson told News Center 7 that she feels a strong responsibility to pass on Dr. King’s message to the young people in her family.
Dayton Mayor Jeffrey Mims, Jr. was among those marching on Monday.
“It’s important to be out here and to show some leadership and emphasize how important I think peace is,” Mims said.
Dr. King often spoke of equal opportunity and equal treatment for all under the law, but he also emphasized a message of non-violence while working for change. That’s why, after this morning’s march, some of the events held at Dayton’s Dakota Center focused on young people and problem-solving without violence.
Anthony Whitmore, Chair of Dayton’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebration, told News Center 7 that recent events prompted his committee to change the focus to young people and their future this year. Those events include recent fights among minors at Dayton Metro Library branches.
It reinforced to leaders directing the MLK Day celebration that focusing on teaching young people better conflict resolution is the right thing to do.
“It may make me choose something that had I had 10 or 20 seconds later, I might have thought, ‘Well, it’s an opinion,’” Whitmore said.
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