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MLK Support Group of Southeast Texas hosts 37th Annual 'I Have A Dream' Brunch

Through the years, Dr. King's wife Coretta Scott King was a big part of the brunch in Port Arthur.

PORT ARTHUR, Texas — On Monday January 16, 2023, the nation celebrates and honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and all the critical work he did for this country.

Even during the height of racial segregation in the 1960s, Dr. King envisioned a world where his kids' would not be judged by the color of their skin.

His 'I Have a Dream' speech is now one of the most famous in the world and one of the pillars of the civil rights movement. 

The MLK Support Group of Southeast Texas held their 37th Annual 'I Have A Dream' Brunch at the Bob Bowers Civic Center in Port Arthur Monday.

The brunch started off with everyone lifting their voices to sing.

There were keynote speakers talking about the importance of Dr. King's legacy and Woodville native, NBC's The Voice contestant Kim Cruse sang "A Change Is Going to Come". 

Dr. Rodney Graves, whose father marched on Washington, was encouraged to join the movement in junior high school. 

"The school was 8% black and quite frankly every day was quite frightening because we were threatened everyday in that high school, junior high school. We knew it was apart of our responsibility to help bring about a change just by being in the room," Graves said. 

Through the years, Dr. King's wife Coretta Scott King was a big part of the brunch in Port Arthur as she was a co-founder of the MLK Support Group of Southeast Texas.

She fought relentlessly to make Martin Luther King Day one of celebration of his life and not a memorial.

"Federal holidays come and they go do her campaign or crusade was to go across the country and make sure that in every area people would do things like this," said Jacquelyn Savoy with the MLK Support Group of Southeast Texas. 

The US has come a long way from its' desegregated past. The hopes for the future are even brighter as everyone continue to teach the dream.

"Are you woke? you know it's great to have a dream but if you'll continue to dream at some point we have to wake up and so we're asking people to wake up from the dream and start living it," said outgoing NAACP President Michael Cooper. 

Brunch attendees reflected on one of Dr. King's famous quotes "injustice anywhere, is a threat to justice everywhere."

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