This weekend, the Abilene community honored Martin Luther King’s memory through a march, a banquet, and a day of service.
MLK was at the heart of America’s Civil Rights movement. His legacy was built through peaceful protests, powerful speeches and letters, and the faith-based conviction that all people were created equal under God. One of his most famous events was the 250,000-person march through Washington, D.C. that concluded with the “I Have a Dream” speech.
Each year, on the federal holiday in his honor, Americans gather in cities across the U-S to march, volunteer and pray.
This year, hundreds marched across the MLK bridge in Abilene. Michael Royals carries on the tradition that his father started in 1987. Royals said that to him, MLK’s message means hope.
“Hope…The hope that we wouldn’t have to go through everything and people wouldn’t just look at us because of our color,” said Royals.
Royals’ daughter Brianna says that events like the M-L-K march are important because history isn’t just something to be read in books.
“We’re living every single day a history that our generation is going to live on forever,” Brianna said. “And if we don’t keep that hope, we don’t keep that fire, ignited, burning beneath us, then we are going to lose touch of who we really are. The community, the love, the togetherness that we all spread.”
The Royals family said it plans to continue organizing Abilene’s celebration of Doctor King for as long as they can, because his message is just as relevant today as it was 60 years ago.
Sunday night, before the march, the Abilene Black Chamber of Commerce hosted the 32nd annual MLK banquet. The sold-out crowd heard from keynote speaker Doctor Leslie Marian Hutchins. The Abilene-native is one of around 35 black female neurosurgeons in the United States.
Hutchins explained how segregation and exclusion have a physical impact on the brain.
“Rejection is a biological stressor. Chronic exclusion can affect regulation, trust, and health. Belonging is not just a moral idea. It’s wired into our biology,” Hutchins said.
Hutchins said research shows that when people work for something bigger than themselves, a different brain system activates.
“When people can’t escape exclusion, giving their pain meaning changes how the brain responds,” Hutchins said.
Hutchins said she fought through med school with the motivation of showing other women that they could do it too.
One of the guests, Carol Kelly Dilworth, described living in a segregated neighborhood and attending a segregated elementary school. Dilworth said her first memory of experiencing discrimination came as a five or six-year-old.
“I didn’t understand why there were two fountains. So I went to the one my mother took me to, and there was a little girl, Anglo-American girl that was at the other one. And I said hello, and she stuck her tongue out at me, and I didn’t understand why,” Dilworth said.
Dilworth’s mother told her it was because some people were born not knowing how to act right, and that she should pay no attention to her.
“And so for years, I can’t say I didn’t experience discrimination, but I always thought about when my mother told me when someone would respond, I’d say, oh, that’s a person that’s not too bright. They don’t know how to respond,” Dilworth said.
Dilworth said Doctor King broke through barriers for black Americans.
“When I look at him now, I know that he must have known the dangers that he was exposed to. And so it took a lot of courage and determination and leaning on the Lord for his guidance and protection. And that is what he did for as long as he could,” Dilworth said.
Community members from across Abilene look for ways each year to honor King by building things that help the community.
This year, MLK day marked the beginning of the Let Us Breathe Foundation’s multi-year project to clean up and eventually renovate, the former Fannin Elementary School, which was donated by the Abilene Independent School District.
Foundation President Shawnte Lewis says they plan to turn it into a community space for events and meetings.
Lewis said the project and its goals line up with King’s legacy.
“When you think about that speech, I have a dream, and when you listen to that speech, you see people from all races and walks of life that are gathered here in the building on our north side, working together, and it's cold, but we are here, and I just love it. It’s a different kind of feeling when people support or see your vision, and they believe in that vision,” Lewis said.
Abilene’s community members will continue to carryout the spirit of Dr. King, not just on the holiday named for him, but with projects and collaborations throughout the year.
This story was produced in partnership with the West Texas Tribune.