With the federal Martin Luther King Junior holiday on Monday, there will be a return to a long tradition of that celebration in downtown Rochester on Monday.
There is a program scheduled at the Eastman Theatre, and several hundred people are expected to attend. That was not held at the theater in the last couple of years due to the pandemic. Instead, there were virtual events going on in 2021 and 2022.
Virgil Parker is the incoming Chair of the Greater Rochester Martin Luther King Jr. Commission and he said the theme for this year’s program is “The Dream is not Dead, Democracy is Alive.”
But Parker also noted that while there has been some progress made toward fulfilling the goals of the late civil rights leader, there is still much work to be done.
“We’ve had progress towards creating a better society, but you often hear the term that we are still fighting some of the same challenges as our grandparents and that is true,” said Parker. “We still do have challenges with our democracy; we still do experience forms of economic inequality and the need for economic empowerment.”
The keynote speaker for this year’s event is Suzan Johnson Cook, who is a former U.S. Ambassador at-Large for International Religious Freedom. She is also goddaughter of the late Corretta Scott King.
Parker said that being able to have the event in person this year is quite meaningful.
“And then you also get the essence of the joy from the preacher and the neighbors, the audience and all of the other musicians beyond the choir,” said Parker. “So it's really, really important to be live, to hear the conversation, to hear this discussion, to see the changing of the color guard by the Boy Scouts and just interact with so many aspects of the community.”
Monday’s program starts at 9:00 a.m. at the Eastman Theatre and it is free and open to the public. Doors open at 8:30 a.m. The commission is encouraging the community to register by going to www.eventbrite.com and searching, "MLK Day Rochester." Masks are encouraged.
