Monday marks Martin Luther King Jr. Day and across the nation people are honoring the legacy of the civil rights leader.
On Sunday, Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Kalamazoo was full of people celebrating Dr. King’s life, legacy and continuing work.
The pews of Mt. Zion Baptist church were full of parishioners, listening to songs and teachings that highlight the importance of Martin Luther King Jr.'s life’s work.
Community leaders and pastors from the Northside Ministerial Alliance focused on compelling the community to not just share words but take action to keep MLK’s work progressing.
“We’ve come a long way in this country since 1963 and I think we still have a distance to go,” Dr. Harvey Myers said.
Dr. Harvey Myers met MLK as an undergrad now he works with the NAACP in Kalamazoo.
Myers believes things are better now than when he was a teen, but he is still concerned about the polarizing divisions in our country.
“We as a country we are polarized today and I think that it’s unfortunate but I think what will happen is once we get through this phase, we will accept that you can voice your option, I can voice my opinion and we can talk together and not be a wits end,” Myers explained.
That belief was shared by both Republican Congressman Fred Upton and Democratic Senator Gary Peters both spoke at the celebration.
“The thing that really keeps me up is what I see happening in our country, the growing division between people,” Peters said.
Peters believes MLK would acknowledge that challenge and see the issues.
“I think Dr. King would see that we have a lot of challenges ahead of us. Frankly I think he would be very concerned that we are slipping backward into more and more divisions, more and more partisanship. He talked a great deal and very eloquently that we cannot be strong as a country unless we come together and rise above these divisions and I think he would be very concerned with what he would see right now,” Peters added.
