(Seguin) – Due to the latest surge in COVID-19 cases, this year’s MLK Day Freedom March in Seguin has been canceled. Up until Saturday, the group had planned on hosting the annual walk from TLU to Central Park. However, the program that was set to follow in Central Park at noon is still on as scheduled.
Now, although today’s events will be a bit different, members of the Seguin MLK Day Planning Committee say it was important for them to return the annual event to the community – an event that was entirely cancelled last year.
Committee members say they believe that today’s celebration and observance of the slain Civil Rights Leader Martin Luther King Jr. were needed more than ever.
Regina Lee, a member of the MLK Day Planning Committee, says safety will remain the group’s priority today. She says not only will there be an opportunity for individuals to spread out throughout Central Park and listen to this year’s speakers live but they can also join the group’s live stream via Facebook.
“We are encouraging, and we are asking people to put on their mask. We will do everything there down at the square. Dr. (Norm) Boeck will open up our program with a prayer. Sister Billie Fae Ball will be there. She will play for us as we congregate. We will have a speaker Rev. Jackson from Wesley Harper,” said Lee.
Again, due to COVID, the committee was forced to scale down its traditional four-day celebration into this single event. Lee says today’s observance also serves an extension of what they know MLK would have wanted if he was still alive. He says that’s why the committee felt that it was important for them to also make today a day of outreach.
Lee says this year, there will be a couple of new additions at Central Park. She says the first is designed to keep our community safe.
“We will also have a couple of people that will be kind of different and new. We have somebody from the health department because no matter how you feel about the virus, we will have someone offering the shots,” said Lee. “Everyone has a story about someone who has had COVID. Everyone has a story about someone who has died from COVID. What changed my mind and I’ll tell you I was the first person to say, ‘nobody is giving me the shot” – but a girlfriend in Dallas said to me, ‘I’m on the left side of life and if it means for me to be able to breath and die, I’d rather breath and die than just struggle to breath and die.’ And I thought well, that makes a lot of sense, so I figured I’m on the left side of life, so I got the shot. They are not going to do testing, but they are going to have someone there doing the shots. I believe at this point both vaccines.”
Lee says the second outreach effort will be to ensure that everyone’s voice is recognized.
We are going to have somebody from the Voters Registration because that is very near and dear. We need that. There is no reason for you to not be registered to vote. Don’t gripe if you don’t vote,” said Lee. “When the law was changed and 18-year-olds could vote, I was not able to vote. I wasn’t old enough. But my sister was, and I used to hound her to register to vote. People have lost their lives because of voting, and I know children don’t realize this now but it’s important. People always think about the presidential election. That’s not what fuels you. It’s the local elections with the stop lights, the schools and those itty-bitty things that really impact you. So sometimes, we have to educate people in terms of needing to vote and that’s everybody across the board. I don’t care who you vote for, why you vote, it’s just that you vote.”
Joe Patterson, who has also spent years serving on the local MLK Day Planning Committee, is also encouraging families to come out and safely celebrate the ideas and messages engraved by Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Open up. Come down. Spend a little time with us. Hear and see what the accomplishments are, what the speakers have to say and what we are trying to do to make life better for our youngsters, our seniors – everybody who is in existence especially in this community but others as well. So, come down, be with us. Enjoy yourself and let’s work together,” said Patterson.
Again, today’s MLK Day March has been cancelled. The annual MLK Day program, however, is still on as scheduled at noon in Central Park. A link for the live stream of the program can also be accessed on the Seguin MLK Planning Committee Facebook page.