{"id":129711,"date":"2026-01-20T00:50:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T00:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/129711\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T00:50:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T00:50:25","slug":"el-paso-gathers-to-celebrate-honor-martin-luther-king-jr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/129711\/","title":{"rendered":"El Paso gathers to celebrate, honor Martin Luther King Jr."},"content":{"rendered":"

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM<\/a>) \u2014 The El Paso community took time to pause, remember and honor the legacy of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.<\/p>\n

On the national holiday marking his legacy on Monday, Jan. 19, El Pasoans gathered at the McCall Neighborhood Center in Central El Paso.<\/p>\n

\"Mayor<\/p>\n

Mayor Renard Johnson speaking on MLK Day at the McCall Neighborhood Center on Monday, Jan. 19.<\/p>\n

The center, at 3231 E. Wyoming, hosted its annual luncheon and celebration in King\u2019s honor.<\/p>\n

Among the speakers was El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson, El Paso\u2019s first Black mayor.<\/p>\n

Johnson told the gathering that King \u201ctaught us that progress requires courage and justice requires action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gregg Davis, president of the Board of Directors for the McCall center, said that the significance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day is \u201cunparalleled.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Gregg<\/p>\n

Gregg Davis<\/p>\n

The day is meant to remember Dr. King, Davis said, but also to take action and give back to the community in his memory.<\/p>\n

One way the McCall Neighborhood Center does that is by collecting canned food to give to the less fortunate, Davis said. This was started by the late city Rep. Carl Robinson, who spearheaded canned good drives in King\u2019s memory for years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe message is to help people in need,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n

For many people, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is not a day off from work or school, but a \u201cday on,\u201d a day to help make the community a better place as befitting King\u2019s life and legacy.<\/p>\n

\"Robbie<\/p>\n

Robbie Kennebrew<\/p>\n

Robbie Kennebrew said it is important for young people to understand the impact of King.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that children can understand the impact that one person can make,\u201d she said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t take a lot of people or a huge coalition of folks. Just one person doing something positive can make a change for the better, not just for themselves but for society as a whole.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want them to understand generational impact, and they are a vital part of making life better,\u201d Kennebrew said.<\/p>\n

\"Zara<\/p>\n

Zara Muojieje<\/p>\n

Zara Muojieje, a sixth-grader, said she was \u201cgrateful\u201d for what King did during his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe stood up for Black people\u2019s rights,\u201d she said. \u201cI believe many people are following his footsteps. I think it is awesome that he had the courage and strength to go protest about Black people\u2019s rights. I think it is really cool he did all that.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of the celebration, a \u201clittle free library\u201d was dedicated at the McCall center.<\/p>\n

\"\u201cLittle<\/p>\n

\u201cLittle free library\u201d dedicated at the McCall Neighborhood Center<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) \u2014 The El Paso community took time to pause, remember and honor the legacy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,140,139,55638,6713,55637,49484,3499],"class_list":{"0":"post-129711","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-el-paso","8":"tag-el-paso","9":"tag-el-paso-headlines","10":"tag-el-paso-news","11":"tag-gregg-davis","12":"tag-martin-luther-king","13":"tag-mccall-neighborhood-center","14":"tag-mlk-day","15":"tag-renard-johnson"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}