CARMEL- Putnam County will be celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, January 15, 2024, with a caravan in Carmel winding up with a service in Kent.
Dr. MLK Organizer Norma Pereira has invited all to attend the, “opportunity to come together as a community, reflecting on Dr. King’s teachings, and work towards a more inclusive future as we honor one of the greatest civil rights leaders in history.”
Putnam County residents shelter neighbors, friends, and families of varying ethnicities, religious backgrounds, and economic statuses who call the county’s six towns and three villages home–this in an atmosphere with low crime rates and quality schools. Despite this Putnam has been plagued in recent years with incidents of social unrest against residents of color, gender identity, and religious background.
Pereira said, “Community members of color within Putnam have felt the fear, uncertainty, and mistrust of their fellow neighbors who they suspect of seeing them as second-class citizens, or as ones who do not belong.”
Monday’s gathering kicks off at 2 pm in the rear parking lot of the ShopRite plaza in Carmel and will proceed in a caravan of vehicles to the CasaServir Church on Old Horsepound Road in Kent, off Route 52 near the intersection of Ludingtonville Road.
Church pastor Nestor Gomes had opened the church’s worship community center for a brief ceremony that will take place at a nearby cemetery where Prince Cornwall, a slave freed after the Revolutionary War who waited on General George Washington, is buried.
Linda Paris of Kent remembered Dr. King as a “man who was considered an enemy of the state in life but a hero in death.”
Abigail Lyons of Carmel, the co-founder of CAFÉ (Community Alliance for Empowerment), called on the entire county to participate: “We strongly believe collaborating among community organizations is crucial as it fosters a synergistic approach to addressing complex issues. By pooling resources, expertise, and diverse perspectives, these organizations can amplify their impact, efficiently utilize limited resources, and avoid duplication of efforts.”
Eileen McDermott, president of Putnam Pride, also reflected on the celebration, “Although Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is often remembered and heralded primarily as a pacifist, he was also a radical revolutionary who famously said that it is the silence of good people that is most detrimental to any campaign for justice and that ‘injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’”
All participants are incentivized to bring food items to benefit Casa Servir’s Food Pantry.
