Okemos residents Walquer Rigg, 13, and Victor Rigg, 9, walk down Albert Street, Aug 28, 2013, during the “Let Freedom Ring” parade, which started at Bailey Community Center. The brothers walked along with their mother from the community center to East Lansing City Hall. Danyelle Morrow/The State News
As the 3 p.m. hour hit East Lansing on Wednesday, from the Beaumont Tower to Bailey Street Community Center, residents were greeted to the sound of bells ringing.
This was part of a nationwide call from Washington, D.C. to ring bells at that time to mark the 50th anniversary of the conclusion of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.‘s famous “I Have a Dream” speech.
The Bailey Community Center of East Lansing answered the call to celebrate.
Nora Thompson, early childcare coordinator of the Bailey Community Center, led a parade of about 40 members of the after-school program at the community center to march down Albert Avenue to East Lansing City Hall, ringing bells in celebration of the famous day.
Thompson said part of celebrating King’s legacy is building community, which starts with East Lansing’s youngest members.
“We want to create connections with everyone, just as Dr. King encouraged us to do,” she said in an email prior to the event. “Today’s walk is a visible reminder that we are all brothers and we believe in friendship and community.”
The walk also served as a reminder to community members of the historical significance of King’s speech 50 years ago. Retired MSU professor Eugene Pernell Jr. was given the opportunity to met King while he was a freshmen at Alabama State College.
“He was just a nice man who came down to talk to us college freshmen,” Pernell Jr. said.
Pernell participated in the Montgomery bus boycott from 1955-1956 organized by King, and said his relationship continued after meeting him in college.
Pernell said he and his wife attended the same church as King, and stated the famous speech meant everything to him.
That sentiment was shared by many of the parade onlookers, including 63-year-old Louise Forsythe of Okemos, who held a simple sign with an equal sign on top of the word “rights.”
“I was 13 years old at the time of the speech,” she said. “At the time I don’t think I really took it all in, but as the years went by I realized that I’m going to fight for the rights of everyone.”
East Lansing Mayor Pro Tem Nathan Triplett might not be old enough to remember the speech, but he says it is hard not to feel an impact from it.
“I think that all of us have a connection to it,” Triplett said. “In the sense that we can use it as an opportunity to reflect on what’s been accomplished over the last 50 years.”
Triplett did raise caution, however, that there still is work to do.
“I think that sometimes people forget it was a march for both economic and social justice,” he said.
60-year-old Lansing resident Eddie Barnes agreed that progress has been made, but King’s dream is not quite a dream realized.
“I personally think until the economic disparities (are) done away with, there will always be challenges.” he said. “But I do think we will get there.”
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