Celebrating Dr. King’s life, Riviera Beach parade goers remember a dream and a struggle

RIVIERA BEACH — The crowd lining the street was more than five deep by 10 a.m. well before the procession of Riviera Beach’s 41st annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. parade started Saturday.

“It gets bigger every year, because it gets better every year,” city spokeswoman Brittany Collins said.

The entire Marching 100 Band from Florida A&M University performed along with the Roar Marching Band from Florida Memorial University. The city officials, their names posted on the sides of convertibles, rolled down the route. A side street of vendors offered fried Oreo cookies, barbecue ribs and health screenings.

And everywhere, on t-shirts and posters plastered on light poles and truck sides was the face of the man who led some of the most pivotal battles for human rights of the last century, before he was cut down at less than half a life more than 50 years ago.

Terrion Nelson, who opened the parade by singing “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the Black National Anthem, ended her performance by urging those there to keep King’s legacy alive.

His legacy is remembered, she says when she steps away from the microphone, “But not as much as it needs to be.”

Unlike many there, she lived during King’s lifetime, but doesn’t remember him. She was 2 when he was assassinated.

Civil Rights in the 1960s: A time not forgotten

Brother Carl Muhammad, standing alone near the start of the route, remembers those times well.

He’s 72 now. He was a child, sitting on his family’s sofa when he watched the brutal beatings of voting rights marchers in Selma, Alabama on television, in what became known as Bloody Sunday. He remembers seeing fire hoses and dogs turned on nonviolent protesters as the cause of racial justice advanced through the 1960s. He remembers the examples set by King and others in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference who went to jail and put their lives on the line.

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Muhammad was an organizer of the Million Man March in 1995, bringing the Palm Beach County contingent to Washington, DC.

Parade participants step out of the procession every couple of minutes to greet him.

He asks young people often what they know about King.

“Nothing,” he says, with a sad smile. “They don’t know anything about his activities. They know he had a dream, and they got a parade.”

He’s glad he watched those times unfold and got to be part of them. “It gave me my resilience,” he says.

Near the end of the route, Lorrine Mond sits in a folding chair, alternately watching the parade and watching her eight-year-old grandson.

She had just graduated high school two years earlier when King was shot to death in April 1968. She remembers her sadness at seeing him and others lose their lives for trying to bring change.

She wants her grandson to know that people fought for the opportunities he has today.

“And I want him to know,” she added, “That he can be anything he wants to be.”

Antigone Barton is a reporter at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at avbarton@pbpost.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: FAMU Marching 100 performs at Martin Luther King Parade in Riveria

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