Marion's Peace and Freedom Committee remembers Dr. King's life and legacy

“He dreamed so that would receive a good education: an equal education. There’s nothing I can’t learn. He dreamed so I could drink from a good water fountain when I need to quench my thirst. There’s no fountain I don’t deserve,” Fifth grader Keelan English said in front of the Palace Theatre’s auditorium Monday.

The 10-year-old Harrison Elementary student was the first speaker at the Peace and Freedom Committee’s MLK Program Monday, moving the socially distanced crowd with his words.

“Martin dreamt so I can dream. That’s what Dr. King’s life means to me,” he concluded.

While MLK Day for many is a day off from work, school or activities, for Marion’s Peace and Freedom Committee, it is a day to continue the important work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. himself.

Seemingly unfazed by the inches of snowfall on the roads from the night before, hundreds from the Marion community gathered in the Palace Theatre’s May Pavilion at 9 a.m. Monday for the 15th Annual MLK Holiday Breakfast organized with the help of Marion Public Library and a grant from the Marion Community Foundation.

From prominent members of the community to event organizers to families of students who were to be showcased as winners of the art, essay, poetry and speech contest at the program to follow, the room was filled with a sense of reverence for the day and excitement for the presentation to come.

The crowd then transferred and was joined by more attendees next door in the Palace Theatre’s auditorium for the Program featuring local speakers, an awards ceremony for the art, essay, poetry and speech contest winners like English and a keynote presentation by New York Times best-selling Author Nic Stone.

Stone, an award-winning author from Atlanta, Georgia, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthplace, described her journey of learning to believe in herself as an author after years of not being able to identify with characters in books due to lack of positive representation of Black, especially female Black, characters.

“At 23, I remember looking at my husband telling him, ‘you know, I just could never write fiction. I don’t have the imagination for it.’ I said that. And I believed it,” Stone said.

It wasn't until Stone read the Divergent series by Veronica Roth that she felt seen and represented by a character: a smart, fearless and bold Black woman named Christina. A gifted storyteller, it was here that she realized she was capable of anything and she began to write.

She asked the members of the audience Monday to allow the power of stories to influence, inspire and create change within their lives, connecting with the legacy of Dr. King's story.

“Fiction begets truth, because it was in reading that I realized, ‘huh if a Black girl can survive an apocalypse, maybe I can write a book.’ This MLK Day, I want you guys to think about MLK and his story and how his story got us to where we are,” said Stone.

“Think about the story of his life and think about how it relates to the story of your life.”

Each student who was selected as a winner of the art, essay, poetry and speech contest received an award and a copy of one of Stone's most recent works, Fast Pitch, a retelling of her favorite movie, The Sandlot, with Black girls on a fast pitch softball team as the main characters written to provide representation to young Black female athletes.

The students took the stage, ranging from kindergarten to the collegiate level speech of Jessica Coleman, Keelan English's mother, who presented after her son in a Mother & Son duo.

Coleman shared her speech, "A conversation with the King,” sharing what she would tell Dr. King if she had the opportunity to meet him and the responses she imagined he would provide to speak into her fear, anger and questions.

"I imagine him telling me that though it seems dark right now, light will come: that it didn’t start with changing the world, that it started with wanting a better one and then fighting for it: for the future, for his children, for me, for my children. He’d tell me he did it because it needed to be done,” she said.

Having organized the event to celebrate and honor Dr. King's legacy, the Peace and Freedom Committee accomplished this goal through celebrating Marion's youth and showcasing the power of community collaboration.

As Peace and Freedom Committee President Dana Hanif-Booker made closing remarks for the MLK Program, she thanked the community for its dedication and partnership in following in King's footsteps.

"We are fortunate and blessed to live in a community that can share in the National Holiday Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.," Hanif-Booker said.

Story by: Sophia Veneziano (740) 564 - 5243 | sveneziano@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Peace and Freedom Committee remembers Dr. King's life and legacy