Bowling Green celebrates MLK Day
Published 3:04 pm Monday, January 20, 2025
Participants in the Bowling Green MLK Day Planning Committee’s MLK March travel past the old Warren County Courthouse on Monday, Jan. 20. The group marched through downtown Bowling Green to honor the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. The march began Monday morning at the Warren County Justice Center and ended at State Street Baptist Church, where a service honoring King was held.
MLK March participant Nate Downey marches with members of the public, representatives from local government and those with the Bowling Green MLK Day Planning Committee on Monday. The group traveled through downtown Bowling Green to honor the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. The march began at the Warren County Justice Center and ended at State Street Baptist Church, where a service honoring King was held.
Members of the public, representatives from local government and those with the Bowling Green MLK Day Planning Committee on Monday marched through downtown Bowling Green to honor the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. The march began Monday morning at the Warren County Justice Center and ended at State Street Baptist Church, where a service honoring King was held.
Members of the public, representatives from local government and those with the Bowling Green MLK Day Planning Committee on Monday marched through downtown Bowling Green to honor the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. The march began Monday morning at the Warren County Justice Center and ended at State Street Baptist Church, where a service honoring King was held.
Ryan Dearbone, head of the BG MLK Day Planning Committee, speaks tot he crowd before marchers set off on Monday, Jan. 20. Members of the public, representatives from local government and those with the Bowling Green MLK Day Planning Committee on Monday marched through downtown Bowling Green to honor the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. The march began Monday morning at the Warren County Justice Center and ended at State Street Baptist Church, where a service honoring King was held.
Members of the public, representatives from local government and those with the Bowling Green MLK Day Planning Committee on Monday marched through downtown Bowling Green to honor the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. The march began Monday morning at the Warren County Justice Center and ended at State Street Baptist Church, where a service honoring King was held.
Bowling Green Police Chief Michael Delaney (left) and Deputy Chief Penny Bowles (center) walk in the MLK March through downtown Bowling Green to honor the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Monday. The march began at the Warren County Justice Center and ended at State Street Baptist Church, where a service honoring King was held.
Jeremiah Castille delivers the keynote speech to a crowd of attendees at State Street Baptist Church in Bowling Green, where a service honoring the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was held on Monday, Jan. 20.
The Eleventh Street Baptist Church Choir performs at State Street Baptist Church during a service honoring the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Monday, Jan. 20.
A poster honoring the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. is held up inside State Street Baptist Church during a service honoring King’s legacy on Monday, Jan. 20.
The Eleventh Street Baptist Church Choir performs at State Street Baptist Church during a service honoring the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Monday, Jan. 20.
Praises are sung during a service honoring the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. at State Street Baptist Church in Bowling Green on Monday, Jan. 20.
David Greer gives a performance of “Letter From Birmingham Jail” at State Street Baptist Church on Monday, Jan. 20, during a service honoring the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
BY DAVID MAMARIL HOROWITZ
david.horowitz@bgdailynews.com
A banner displayed “Remember the Dream” as marchers on either side raised it and led around 70 walkers along Center Street Monday morning to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the 13-degree weather. Perhaps a dozen sang the hymns “Jesus on the Mainline,” “This Little Light of Mine,” “I’m Marching Down Freedom’s Road,” “I Love to Praise Him” and “We Shall Overcome.”
Police facilitated a safe march along the roadway, with vehicles leading and trailing the marchers and at least two in uniform among the crowd. And, participants of numerous races, colors, ages and other demographics together marched from the Justice Center to the State Street Baptist Church.
It was the penultimate event of Bowling Green’s 26th annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration organized by the MLK Holiday Planning Committee. A two-hour memorial celebration at State Street Baptist Church followed, featuring celebration, remembrance, calls to action and solidarity.
Ryan Dearbone, vice-chair of the MLK Holiday Planning Committee, spoke to the audience about the purpose of the holiday.
“Dr. King served his purpose, and that’s why we’re here today: He taught us to understand where we’re at and where we can go and how to get there; he broke down walls and challenged norms and made sure that everyone knew that they had a seat at the table,” Dearbone said. “So, what’s your purpose? Is your purpose to be here today, to get a good feeling and celebrate Dr King’s life and legacy, and then as soon as you walk out these doors, forget about it? …. Or … is your purpose to continue the dream, to continue the vision, to continue the goals, and create purpose?
“We’re in 2025 — we can’t live off of the visions and dreams of others. Not forever. Doctor King, want us to remember his dream, but not to live and die off of it,” he said.
The 11th Street Baptist Church Choir performed the prelude music, and community leader the Rev. Megan Bailey led a music selection with youth. Playwright and Tony-nominated producer David Greer performed a dramatic reading of MLK’s letter from Birmingham Jail. The Rev. Megan Huston led a prayer that centered on a refusal to give in to inequalities such as racial- or gender-based discrimination.
Longtime community leaders Abraham Williams and Wathetta Buford, who passed away last year, were recognized as recipients of the MLK Holiday Planning Committee’s 2025 humanitarian award.
And Jeremiah Castille – founder of the nonprofit Jeremiah Castille Foundation and chaplain for the University of Alabama football team – delivered a passionate keynote speech on his life, the purpose of the holiday and the importance of God.
“How do I say, ‘Thank you’ — how do you say, ‘Thank you’ — to Dr. King?” he asked. Castille asked too how he would say, “Thank you” to James Hood, one of the first Black students to enroll at the University of Alabama.
“What are you and I going to do when we leave here?” he said. “That’s what matters … We’re not here for spectators — we’re here for participators.”
Several attendees of the morning march shared their thoughts with the Daily News.
Harold Little Jr, a member of the NAACP and an involved community member on multiple boards, said he was attending to demonstrate his support of the holiday and its importance, especially on Inauguration Day.
“We’re at a peculiar time in history now, and I think that we can see things that are going on now that we never expected, say, even 20 years ago,” he said. “I’m of an older generation, and I’ve seen progress, but I’ve seen progress slowed, and that is my concern — that we’re not moving nearly as fast as we were several years ago.
Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday brings that out, and it allows us really to self-observe, if you will, and really think about where we are and how far we still have to go … It’s a spectacular holiday, and it’s a holiday that’s meant for everyone.”
Little Jr. said that he and his wife have had a wonderful experience raising a son in Bowling Green. But, he added, “there’s still room for improvement.”
Bowling Green resident Sharon Cosby said she just wants people to have an equal opportunity.
“We have just been segregated by race, by socioeconomics — so, it’s time that all this stuff be put aside,” she said. “Plus, I would really like to see Black history being reintroduced to the school systems, and maybe this is a platform for that as well.”
Rayna Taylor and Jakayla Brown, students from Western Kentucky University, attended to represent Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
“Being a student of color and also representing an organization that’s built on social justice and standing for something, especially for the Black community, it’s really important to come out here and make sure we’re still representing, even for the moment of it, for the symbolism of it,” Taylor said.
Added Brown, “It is also Inauguration Day, and a lot of our community doesn’t feel super supported and stable. So, I think we’re doing our due diligence, being somewhere where we’re supporting our community and doing what we can.”
