MLK Day celebration slated for Monday

By John Peters
Editor

Despite the generally cold weather of January, area residents will be taking to the streets on Monday, Jan. 21 for the third annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in Littleton.

Sponsored by Oak Grove Baptist Church, the parade is part of a larger celebration that not only commemorates King’s work in the Civil Rights Movement, but also is aimed at helping people meet modern challenges in raising their children.

Dr. Charles McCollum, pastor of Oak Grove Baptist, said this year’s theme is Continuing the Legacy.

“We started the celebration about five years ago,” he said. “In the last three years we’ve instituted the parade, and that’s growing. A lot of our young people are getting involved, a lot of our messages and themes have been about getting the family involved.”

McCollum said this year’s messages and activities will be about building community harmony.

“I think Littleton has become quite evident of the way harmony can grow in a community,” he said. “I think we have a lot of community harmony that Dr. King would be proud of.”

He said holding the celebration, and working with families, can help “heal the hurts of the community.

“A lot of people are suffering from hurts, and not all of it is racial,” he said. Dr. King, while known as a civil rights leader, was interested in helping individuals grow, and McCollum said that is his aim, too. “We want people to know we are a family, we are a community that cares.

“A lot of our young people are still at risk,” he continued. “We need to unite behind causes, rather than gang causes. I think in the county, urban activities like gangs are being imported. We want to promote the family, let people know they don’t have to unite behind color, but behind family and relationships.”

He said even as civil rights victories have been won over the years, sometimes family and community togetherness have fallen by the wayside.

“Part of the legacy of King is that we be more vigilant, that we come together as a community and address these ills that are still facing us.”

The parade will begin at 10 a.m. and will go down Main Street. Additional activities at Oak Grove Baptist church will follow. Anyone wanting more information should call 586-4524 and leave a message, or call 532-0071.