NEWBURGH – The legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is being honored today across the region and nation with a Day of Service.
Thousands are volunteering their service in the Hudson Valley to honor the civil rights leader.
From White Plains to Kingston, people will be performing acts of service while commemorations, marches and speeches will be conducted in other areas including the annual march in Poughkeepsie.
Born in Atlanta on January 15, 1929, Dr. King was noted for his non-violent
approach to civil rights protests. In 1964 at age 35, Dr. King won the
Nobel Peace Prize. Among his iconic speeches was his “I Have a Dream”
speech delivered in 1963 during the March on Washington.
State Senator Andrea Stewart Cousins (D-Yonkers) said as an African-American
who has benefits from Dr. King’s efforts, “I am renewed by this annual
celebration and the enduring power of righteousness.” She said she
is also encouraged in her work “by Dr. King’s admonition that ‘change
does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous
struggle’. In other words, we must strive towards a better community.”
“Today we honor a man who showed us that the power of a dream is
all that you need to change the world,” said State Senator Susan
Serino (R-Hyde Park). “Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is a real American
hero who embodied the ideals our nation was founded upon: freedom, justice,
and equality. In light of the recent tragedies and tensions that have
reverberated across the world, Dr. King’s message bears repeating.”
Dr. King as assassinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis.
