Rev. Joh, left, with some of the marchers
BREWSTER – Americans celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day Monday and in remembrance of the civil rights leader, Putnam County residents gathered for a prayer walk for communities of peace and justice.
The march was coordinated by the First United Methodist Church of Brewster in conjunction with Trinity Lutheran Church.
Rev. Wongee Joh of the Methodist Church, told the 50 participants gathered in frigid weather “today’s demonstration serves as a sign of hope that what the late Dr. King envisioned as a love for community and love for one and another will result throughout our village and our county. We hope and pray that no bitterness and friction results between people of different origins and backgrounds and that we all become friends.”
Rev. Joh called on all people to “embrace each other. Words or actions against countries or certain groups of people should not be humanized. Injustice impacts us all. We must being into our lives human justice and peace. We are standing with each other today as the dream of Martin Luther King is moving on.”
Following a brief prayer vigil inside the church in downtown Brewster, the participants walked along Main Street to the Southeast Museum, Metro-North Railroad Station, a local deli and the Community Action Program headquarters calling on those to “begin the shift from a ‘thing-oriented’ society’ to a ‘person oriented society’ as the late Dr. King has professed.
