MIAMI — Miami, which claims to have the oldest Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade in the country, held its 49th annual MLK Day parade on Monday. The late Rev. Preston Marshall started it in 1977, nearly a decade before the U.S. established the federal holiday.
The city celebrated the 49th annual parade in Liberty City, a neighborhood racially segregated after the construction in the 1930s of Liberty Square, the first public housing project for Blacks in the southern U.S.
Crime has long been a challenge in the area, later known as the “Pork ‘n’ Beans” project. It’s also home to the Sherdavia Jenkins Park in memory of a 9-year-old girl killed by a stray bullet from an AK-47 in 2006.
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The 10-mile parade’s theme was “Mentoring the Dream!” At 11 a.m., children were among the crowd and on the floats that lined up along a route that King took on Northwest 54th Street during his visits to Miami.
“Poverty, ignorance, social isolation, and economic deprivation breed crime, whatever the racial group might be,” King, the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, said about inner-city life during his visit to the University of Miami on May 19, 1966, in Coral Gables. “And, it is a torturous logic, the use of the tragic results of segregation as an argument for the continuation of it. It is necessary to go back to the cause or basis and deal with that.”
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A row of Miami police motormen opened the way for the floats to travel for more than two hours from the start of the parade at Seventh Avenue to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park at 6000 NW 32nd Court.
Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon Martin’s mother, and the Circle of Brotherhood’s members were among the activists who participated in the parade.
Cuthbert “Broadway” Harewood Jr., a Liberty City businessman recognized for his commitment to the Northwest 18th Avenue area, was the only local parade’s grand marshal.
“My favorite part is always the bands, the children,” Ladi Jenkins, a leader of the committee behind the parade, recently told Local 10 News Anchor Nicole Perez.
The students from West Little River Elementary and North Miami Middle who marched while dancing and playing instruments were the stars of the parade.
The high school marching bands included Miami Northwestern, Miami Central, Booker T. Washington, and American.
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Miami firefighters honked the horns of fire trucks as trainees passed candy to the children in the crowd.
“Young people need to study as much as they can about people like my father and what they brought to this world, and they need to understand that he was a human being like them,” Bernice King told Local 10 News in Atlanta. “But, you have got to understand the struggles that came before, because that set a foundation, and you are building upon that.”
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told Local 10 News during the parade that it is important to remember what King stood for.
“He believed in freedom and justice, and he was fighting -- he died fighting for the community,” Levine Cava said.
Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies riding everything from horses to electric vehicles also joined the parade. Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz said their participation was a way of partnering with the community.
“We too stand for ... and believe in, every one of those things that he did,” Cordero-Stutz told Local 10 News during the parade.
Miami police officers guided drivers during the road closures. Northwest 12th Avenue and 17th Avenue were open in both directions until 9 a.m.
Northwest 54th Street from Sixth Court to 19th Avenue was closed from 7:30 a.m. until about 5 p.m. Police officers asked drivers to use 53rd Street northbound and 55th Street southbound.
THE PRINCIPLES
Here are King’s six principles of non-violence:
Principle one: Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people. It is active nonviolent resistance to evil. It is aggressive spiritually, mentally and emotionally.
Principle two: Nonviolence seeks to win friendship and understanding. The result of nonviolence is redemption and reconciliation. The purpose of nonviolence is the creation of the Beloved Community.
Principle three: Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice, not people. Nonviolence recognises that evildoers are also victims and are not evil people. The nonviolent resister seeks to defeat evil, not people.
Principle four: Nonviolence holds that suffering can educate and transform. Nonviolence accepts suffering without retaliation. Unearned suffering is redemptive and has tremendous educational and transforming possibilities.
Principle five: Nonviolence chooses love instead of hate. Nonviolence resists violence of the spirit as well as the body. Nonviolent love is spontaneous, unmotivated, unselfish and creative.
Principle six: Nonviolence believes that the universe is on the side of justice. The nonviolent resister has deep faith that justice will eventually win. Nonviolence believes that God is a God of justice.
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