On a cold and brisk Monday morning, Chapel Hill community members gathered in the First Baptist Church of Chapel Hill for a celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
The ceremony, organized by the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP, was originally scheduled to begin at the Peace and Justice Plaza, followed by a march along Franklin Street to the First Baptist Church. However, the planned march was cancelled due to inclement weather.
Despite that, up to 50 attendees still congregated at the Peace and Justice Plaza and marched through the cold to the First Baptist Church.
The ceremony began with various activities featuring Town council members and religious leaders, including a call to worship, interfaith prayers and a collective musical rendition of the hymn “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by James Weldon Johnson, an American writer and civil rights activist.
Sunlight streamed in through the stained glass as the crowd sang along to other hymns with the One Human Family Workshop Choir.
“For the most part, it's just a lovely time to be together this year,” Chapel Hill resident Margaret Vimmerstedt said. “And you could tell — I mean, I feel like it's really important to have times when our community comes together.”
In his speech to the crowd, keynote speaker Rev. Kendal McBroom spoke about the juxtaposition between honoring King's dream and the current state of society in the United States, including increasing rates of poverty, lack of access to education and unaffordable healthcare.
“These statistics are not just numbers,” he said. “They're our cousins, they're our loved ones, they're our church members — they are us.”
Honoring King requires more than just a ceremony, he said — it demands action and a commitment to the principles King promoted of love, equity and truth. Chapel Hill Council Member Paris Miller-Foushee said in times of ongoing crises, communities must organize and be on the right side of justice.
