For the first time in three years the Plattsburgh community gathered in person on Monday to celebrate the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.
The annual celebration, organized by Plattsburgh’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission, is held at the Newman Center on the SUNY Plattsburgh campus.
Commission Vice President and SUNY Plattsburgh librarian Holly Heller-Ross says everyone is thrilled to be able to gather together as a community to embrace the philosophy of Dr. King.
“I really hope that people take away a sense that large or small, public or private, every person’s actions towards creating a better world are vitally important and needed. Every person’s actions, big or small, whether you’re a teenager or a 90-year-old, keep doing something to make your world better for everybody in it.”
The celebration featured speeches and song with Andrea Ogle leading off the musical selections.
“Good afternoon. Please stand with me as we sing Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
Local dignitaries weighed in with their perspectives on the importance of King’s legacy, including Democratic state Assemblyman D. Billy Jones of the 115th district.
“The essence of what Dr. King wants from us and wanted from us is to humbly serve our community.”
SUNY Plattsburgh Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Allison Heard, the keynote speaker, described how her late father, a former Chicago police officer, briefly met Dr. King.
“Dr. King was visiting Chicago in 1966. Dr. King was hit that day during that march with a rock. My father remembered everything that happened. He could remember the faces. He could remember the language. He could remember the screams and he could remember the tears. My father told me that no matter what he saw and no matter what he experienced that day it was all worth it when Dr. King thanked the police officers who showed up that day and when Dr. King shook my father’s hand.”
Near the end of the program those attending joined Commissioner Stan Ransom in reciting the annual community pledge, formulated from King’s 1960’s speeches.
“We shall not tolerate injustice for ‘injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. We shall teach our children to treat all with love and respect for ‘hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that’. All this we shall accomplish to the best of our ability, for together we are the dream.”
During the pandemic a video version of the community commemoration was broadcast on public television.
