DAVID SEPULVEDA PHOTOS
The 45th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Love March launched from Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church on Lawrence Street under fair skies, and chilly, but warming temperatures. If history is a guide, the march would have launched under stormy skies as well.
Some 75 people marched and then sang and prayed in the memory of the late civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as they have at the church since the early 1970s.
For its entire history, the event has never been canceled. It is a point of pride for the church that neither rain, snow, or the cold, has stood in the way of marchers and their message of love and nonviolence as they commemorate King’s life.
Quoting his late father and march founder Rev. George W. Hampton Sr., Rev. Kennedy Hampton reiterated that “we will cancel the march when they cancel the St. Patrick’s Day parade.”
Assistant Pastor Anthony Hargett, said that the church organizes the Love March on Dr. King’s actual birthday (Jan. 15) instead of the official designated holiday to show the significance and importance of the date. He said he recognizes that the march is not held at a convenient time for many working people: “Anytime you have a movement, the time is not always going to be convenient.”
Before the march began, Rev. Hampton welcomed those gathered with a light-hearted trivia session about Rev. King’s connection to Yale and to New Haven. Holding up a photograph of Dr. King cutting a cake, he asked if anyone knew what occasion the photo represented. The occasion was a birthday celebration held at Yale for Rev. King’s 30th birthday. Another question: “What else did Rev. King receive from Yale — and when?” The answer: an honorary doctor of law degree in 1964.
One of the firsts for the annual march was the appearance of New Haven police not simply guarding the march, but participating as an invited unit. Police Chief Dean Esserman brought his top command staff to march with him.
The march covered six city blocks of the East Rock neighborhood. It was headed by the Reverends Kennedy and Gerald Hampton holding a placard bearing a photograph of their late father.
Marching alongside them were U.S. Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, Mayor Toni Harp, and State Sen. Gary Holder-Winfield, among many local officials and community leaders.
Fifth-graders Janiah Swan and Lenise Barrett of Lincoln-Bassett school held a poster depicting a graphic of the late Eric Garner, who was killed while being subdued by police in Staten Island. The poster repeated, in lines of diminishing size, the “I can’t breath” phrase uttered by Garner in his final moments. Asked how she felt about marching, Janiah, (left in photo) said: “It makes me embrace myself. I feel good.”
Along the route passersby stood to watch the procession of marchers. Carla Johnson of New Haven, who was with her daughter, said she was happy to be seeing vocal support for “a man who still has lots of influence. Our kids need to know more about who he was and what he was about.”
Another march viewer who clapped and exhorted marchers from her balcony several stories above, caught the eye of Chief Esserman, who vigorously waved back in appreciation.
Back at the church Master of Ceremony for the “Healing the Village” program was former State Rep. William Dyson, who has animatedly performed the function in past years as well.
Students from Columbus and Lincoln-Bassett schools sang inspirational numbers, as Superintendent of Schools Garth Harries looked on …
…followed by a presentation of a scholarship award from The Rev. G. W. Hampton Scholarship Fund. It was made to Cooperative Arts and Humanities high school senior Donijah Collier, a veteran of many SMBC Love Marches; she sang at President Obama’s inauguration.
Calling the MLK Love March “one of New Haven’s most cherished events,” attorney Michael Jefferson delivered passionate remarks. He quoted one of Dr. King’s famous lines — “I may not get there with you …” — which presaged his assassination. “King knew that his days were numbered, that his name had already been engraved on the assassin’s bullet. But he stayed the course. He kept his eyes on the prize,” said Jefferson.