Martin Luther King Jr. Day in St. Augustine focuses on freedom

St. Johns County residents and others celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day in St. Augustine with speeches, songs, prayers and an annual march to the Plaza de la Constitucion on Monday.

People marched from St. Paul AME Church on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue downtown to the Plaza as part of the annual event.

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But the day began around 7:30 a.m. with more 100 people gathered in the Virginia Room at Flagler College for the 37th annual breakfast honoring Martin Luther King Jr.

The keynote speaker was Melanie Lawson-Minor, an anchor for WJXT Channel 4.

Lawson-Minor focused on freedom, privilege and personal responsibility, in keeping with the event's theme of "No one is free until we are all free."

"When people say they are not going to be a bystander or you're going to be an anti-racist, it requires that we all check our privilege," she said. "Privilege unchecked equals oppression. When you claim and leverage your privilege for yourself, it is always on the backs and to the demise of others. But when you leverage privilege for others, you're not actually giving up anything. You're creating something. You're creating freedom."

Visit staugustine.com and read Wednesday's edition of The St. Augustine Record for full coverage of the day's events.

This article originally appeared on St. Augustine Record: St. Johns County residents celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day