BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Civil Rights Movement March wound through South Bethlehem on Monday, marking the civil rights icon’s lasting impact on the region.
Despite the cold, a crowd marched from the Comfort Suites at 120 W. Third St., down Broadway and to the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial park on Carlton Avenue.
At the head of the procession, behind march organizer Frankie West, students from the Liberty High School Grenadier Marching Band carried U.S. and Pennsylvania flags. Following them were local political leaders, judges, activists and residents.
When the procession arrived, the group crowded around the park’s memorials to Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King. Monday was the national observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
A pair of Bethlehem high school students – Nathaniel Sletvold from Freedom High School and Xavier Moore-Alozie from Liberty High – read essays about King Jr.’s lasting impact.
“I was asked to say two words about Martin Luther King, and the only two I can think of is ‘peaceful person,’” said Easton Mayor Sal Panto Jr. “What we have to do today, we have to live in peace, and violence is not the answer.”
“Dr. King's message may have been nonviolent, but it was one of urgency,” Bethlehem Mayor J. William Reynolds said.
“There's a lot of people in this country right now that are very sensitive about talking anything having to do with racial justice. If Dr. King was here, he wouldn't tell us that means we got to turn the volume down; he would say you have to turn the volume up.”
Monday marks the 33rd march to MLK Park in South Bethlehem, a yearly tradition in the city.
