Saturday’s Martin Luther King Jr, Unity Celebration at Kissimmee Lakefront Park showed the community, vendors, groups, business owners, and the citizens of Kissimmee what unity looks and proof that the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr continues.
At the event, well attended despite the chilly weather, the City of Kissimmee offered up its #MyDream campaign. It involved having the attendees write their dreams down on post-it notes and stick on a cut-out board, to help establish what Dr. King spoke of.
“It’s about how he had a dream and worked towards it. We wanted to encourage people to do the same, said Osceola County NAACP President Delores McMillon. “To establish their dreams, and see that other people have dreams, and they are possible to achieve.”
McMillon, and Star 94.5 radio host Monica May served as hosts for the event. May reflected on this event as well, and how she wanted to do something different for this year’s MLK holiday.
“I wanted to do more than a parade today. I wanted to do more than walk and wave. I wanted to be amongst people who supported Martin Luther King’s dream,” she said. “And when I’m amongst the crowd, I hear the comments from them. So, they are here to support Dr. King.
“One of the things that we can’t stop doing is dreaming. One of the things that I think is imperative for us is to do is mind our young people about the importance of a man who believed so much in independence, economic justice, political justice. He believed in civil rights, human rights. That there was a person like that, that existed. If we can just share with our kids his history, his mantra, I think that we would be better off as African Americans living in America. We have no identity at all. We need to know more about our history and the legacy of Dr. King.”
May also used the day to give the younger generation a piece of knowledge.
“The fact that I see young people supporting the white space ‘My Dream’, that was so cool for me to see. What you want them to do is put down your dreams. What is it that you want? That’s something we don’t ask our young people enough. If we continue to ask what they’re dreaming about, what they want out of life, what do they want to contribute to life, that’s what I want to ask Kissimmee to do. Keep dreaming.”
The Bethune Cookman University Inspirational Gospel Choir was one of the performing acts, speaking its mission during its performance.
“We’ve been traveling and singing, and we are family-oriented. As a black college and university, we have a lot of black leaders that have paved the way for us, so that’s the least that we can do, and give God praise for the amazing things he has done for us as black people,” members of the choir mentioned during their performance.
As we celebrate another year of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we celebrate his dreams, our dreams, and the hope for our community and our nation.
