Cape Cod Celebrates Legacy of MLK Jr.

CCB MEDIA PHOTO: Residents gather for a silent procession in Wellfleet to honor Martin Luther King Jr.

FALMOUTH – Several events were held across Cape Cod Monday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. and carry on the civil rights leader’s legacy.

In Falmouth, the 10th annual MLK National Holiday breakfast was held by No Place for Hate, an organization that works to combat bias, build bridges and promote respect.

No Place for Hate member Pamela Rothstein said the breakfast is a powerful community event.

“It’s a chance for people to talk, to be inspired, to take time to stop life for a minute and remember Dr. King and the relevance of his message today,” Rothstein said.

This year’s breakfast also recognized George Spivey, who was the first recipient of the No Place for Hate Falmouth Civic Leadership Award. Spivey founded the annual MLK National Holiday breakfast.

“Every year this breakfast brings people together in an incredibly positive and community building way,” Rothstein said.

Rothstein said you also only see smiling and engaged faces.

“That in and of itself is a very important thing at a time when some people are feeling anxiety and uncertainty about what it coming,” she said.

At Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School, Americorps Cape Cod held its annual Martin Luther King Jr. day of service.

Hundreds of volunteers came together to create artistic tote bags filled with donated toiletry items for the region’s homeless.

The event is designed to raise awareness in the community of the prevalence of homelessness and poverty.

“We’re trying to get the community invested in this push to address the homelessness situation on Cape Cod,” said Teikyo Mowchan, an Americorps Cape Cod member.

Over the last few months, donations of small toiletry items such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant and travel size shampoos and soaps were collected at Cape Cod high schools and police departments.

CCB MEDIA PHOTO: Americorps Cape Cod members gather care packages prepared by hundreds of volunteers at Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School.

The donated items were brought together today to create the care packages which included messages of support.

Mowchan said the organization was concerned that there might not be enough items donated before today but said many donations were made during the event.

“Our bins over there are overflowing,” he said. “We might have more stuff than we expected.”

Mowchan said it takes the community coming together to solve these types of regional issues.

“I think a big part of solving these problems is acknowledging they are actually there,” he said.

Nauset Interfaith sponsored the annual Martin Luther King Day Breakfast in Orleans. This year’s focus was voices of our youth and featured written and visual arts from students at Nauset and Monomoy Regional High Schools.

Events in Wellfleet featured a drum circle outside of Town Hall. That was followed by a silent procession down Main Street to Preservation Hall for music, dance and spoken-word performance

The civil rights leader was honored Sunday in Hyannis, on his actual birthday. A silent march was held from Town Hall to the Federated Church for a service in remembrance of King.

View video from Wellfleet’s parade here

Elected officials along with community and religious leaders gathered in Boston for the 47th Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Breakfast.

Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, Democratic Attorney General Maura Healey and Democratic U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey were among the events speakers.

The officials invoked the memory of King and the civil rights movement, and said the country still faces challenges in the struggle for racial and economic equality.

Monday’s event at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center is the oldest of its kind in the nation.

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama honored King’s memory by painting a mural at a family shelter in Washington.

The Obamas joined residents of the Jobs Have Priority Naylor Road Family Shelter to paint a display of the slain civil rights activist on a wall in the community room. The mural features a large rendering of King’s face surrounded by butterflies, under the words “Wall of Hope.”

It was Obama’s last MLK Jr. Day as president. He leaves office Friday.

By BRIAN MERCHANT, CapeCod.com NewsCenter

Material from the Associated Press was used in this article.

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