BETHLEHEM, Pa. – It’s Martin Luther King Junior Day.<\/p>\n
Snow, rain or shine, a group gathered honor the life and legacy of the Civil Rights leader who left his mark on history.<\/p>\n
In southside Bethlehem, an annual Civil Rights Movement March crowded the streets.<\/p>\n
“While the dreamer is not here, the dream is still alive,” said Reverend Timothy Smith, Associate Pastor at New Christian Harvest Church in Allentown. “Today is not a day off. Today is not a day to dispel the dream. But it’s a day of service.”<\/p>\n
A weekend piled up with snow did not hinder the march.<\/p>\n
“[There are] a wide array of residents, supporters and those who basically champion the cause of justice,” said Smith.<\/p>\n
Smith, a longtime Bethlehem resident, calls the march a tradition.<\/p>\n
“We’re going to keep singing that until, of course, we do overcome,” said Smith.<\/p>\n
Marching alongside him is Frankie West, President of the Martin Luther King Jr. Civil Rights Movement March.<\/p>\n
He said he’s been marching for more than 30 years and hopes to spread a message to younger generations.<\/p>\n
“This march actually started with three people,” said West, who organized the event.<\/p>\n
Today, he estimated 75 people gathered.<\/p>\n
“Walking together and trying to get along,” said West<\/p>\n
“So from three to 75, that must really make you feel something,” said 69 News reporter Cierra Genelle.<\/p>\n
“It makes me feel good if I only have 10 [people]. You know what I mean? Because I’m doing what I love to do,” said West.<\/p>\n
The group walked from West Third Street to Martin Luther King Park on Carlton Avenue in Bethlehem.<\/p>\n
There, they honored King and his wife.<\/p>\n
And they’re already planning for next year’s march.<\/p>\n
“It gives me inspiration to know that Martin Luther King’s dream is still alive,” said Paul Grant, flag bearer of the Martin Luther King Jr. Civil Rights Movement March.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BETHLEHEM, Pa. – It’s Martin Luther King Junior Day. Snow, rain or shine, a group gathered honor the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91194,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120,153,19965,524,740,113,8372,21807,37743,5431],"class_list":{"0":"post-91193","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-allentown","8":"tag-allentown","9":"tag-allentown-headlines","10":"tag-allentown-news","11":"tag-bethlehem","12":"tag-civil-rights-movement","13":"tag-community","14":"tag-justice","15":"tag-legacy","16":"tag-march","17":"tag-martin-luther-king-jr","18":"tag-mlk-day","19":"tag-tradition"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}