POUGHKEEPSIE – The Beulah Baptist Church in Poughkeepsie hosted a packed house Sunday evening to celebrate the birthday of one of the most influential individuals in the American civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
This MLK service was the 47th annual and many local elected officials, including keynote speaker church Superintendent John Borden, came to celebrate the iconic civil rights activist, as well as to share that Dr. King’s dream, although not forgotten, has not yet been completely fulfilled.
Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro said that, as a people, we have
come a long way, but there are still injustices inhibiting the move forward
toward complete equality.
“It is important to recognize, as everyone else who has come to this podium and said, there is still great injustice alive in our community,” said Molinaro. “There are those that, no matter how hard they try, no matter how hard they struggle, they just cannot achieve the success they want for themselves. There are those who live in our communities, in their homes, who are fearful for their lives, for their children, for their property and there are those, no matter how much they may repaid their debt to society, we do not forgive them.”
Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney said the service and Dr. King’s birthday present a perfect opportunity for everyone to acknowledge that Dr. King’s teachings still hold relevance today; there is still a lesson to be learned.
Maloney: “… we’re one country and one people …”
“The lesson is that we have work to do and we’re not there yet and anybody who’s been watching the news, or looking around our country for the last year, have seen the horrible images and incidents that have occurred that threaten to drive us apart and what Dr. King’s message says is that we have to come together and we have to do this together, that we’re one country and one people and you can’t do it through blame, or through anger, you have to do it through love and through reconciliation and so, that’s what we’re celebrating tonight and that’s the power of this holiday and the power of Dr. King’s message,” said Maloney.
Everyone in attendance urged all people to reflect the true meaning of
equality every day, not just on Dr. King’s birthday.
Another celebration of Dr. King’s life was held Sunday in Woodstock.
