By Michael V. Hannigan
Officials and residents from towns throughout Henderson County joined in the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Parade in Athens Saturday.
The parade was sponsored by the Henderson County Black Rodeo Association.
This year’s event included a solidarity march and rally organized by Toni Thompson, who is also an officer of the HCBRA.
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Thompson said the rally’s trademark STOP sign stands for Solution To Overall Peace and that the answer is solidarity.
“If we come together in solidarity, unified together as one for peace, we can push out the negative elements that we see,” she said at the rally following the parade. “But we all have to come together for the same cause; to want to stop and make things work for the betterment of our world.”
She said the negative attitudes in our culture have to stop.
“Everything that we can say about somebody to separate that person from another person is what needs to stop, and that’s what this program is about,” she said. “We have to try and not look at the negative in what’s going on in the world today. We need to start looking at it with a positive eye (asking) what can I do to get rid of this image, what part can I play to get rid of this image.”
Thompson was also clear that she wasn’t talking about a one-sided program.
“Dr. King was for peace, unity and justice for all. He was for all people. ‘Red, yellow, black and white, we are all precious in His sight.’ The kids sing that song; we still need to sing it, being children and adults,” she said. “Because we are all precious in His sight, no matter what color, what size, what label, what profession, we all still belong to God and that’s what matters and that’s what unifies us all.”
Newly sworn-in State Rep. Stuart Spitzer, M.D. was one of several elected officials — including Athens Mayor Jerry Don Vaught and Gun Barrel City Mayor Jim Braswell — to attend the parade and rally.
Spitzer said, “There are those who seek to use hate and division and strife, and I want you to know that those are not things of God. Those are Satan’s tools. The things (Dr. King) spoke about were unity and peace. And I think that is what he preached, because those are the things from God: unity, peace and love. That’s what he brought into the world and I think he would be honored to see us here today, walking in unity and in peace and in love and speaking out some truths that he would want spoken.”
