Martin Luther King Jr. Day was celebrated Monday, and in Saratoga Springs, the civil rights leader was remembered all weekend long.
Celebrations of Doctor King’s life and legacy began Friday afternoon. Two days later, the reverend was honored in the Dyer Phelps AME Zion Church, with people of all backgrounds filling the pews to share in song and spirit.
Heavenly Echoes has been playing in the Spa City to celebrate MLK for five years and drummer Decky Lawson says it’s an honor.
“Seeing people gravitating to the quartet sound because that’s what it is and us singing for the uplifting of the lord. You know, the quartet sound, you know, people love it. We see a lot of familiar faces that’s been coming to our events all over the country. We just love that people are enjoying what they’re seeing and keep calling us back,” said Lawson.
Reverend David Baugh led Sunday’s service.
“It was wonderful, it’s inspiring to have people come together under the same umbrella of wanting to have that community feel restore. I’m new to Saratoga, only been here a year. This is one of the best welcomings I’ve had to start the year off. So, I was just overjoyed by the presence of everybody here today,” said Baugh.
The weekend focused on King’s 1967 “Where Do We Go From Here” speech, where the reverend reflected on the success of the civil rights movement in the form of efforts like Operation Breadbasket while outlining how much work was still ahead.
Hours ahead of President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, Reverend Baugh says it’s more important than ever to keep a positive perspective.
“We’ve actually seen the progress of America. We had our first woman Vice President, we’ve had our first Black President. And even though everything isn’t perfect in Washington D.C. it goes to show that there is still groundwork in the community to do. Washington is Washington, but if we can just work together on the community basis, on the community level there’s always hope. He’s only there for four years so he can’t do too much,” said Baugh.
Baugh says it’s up to local organizations to create a more equitable future.
“Corporations have found a way to monetize those types of organizations in years past. And we have to get away from monetizing to being more purpose driven, being about people. It’s a crime that we live in the richest country and we have people on the streets hungry, mentally ill people with no medical support. It’s a crime that we have people who work 40 hours and still need food stamps. There’s a lot that needs to be done, but I think we’re starting to see the limit that we can do individually and we’re starting to have to come back to do it collectively,” said Baugh.
Across town at the Saratoga Springs Public Library, campers and staff of Camp Stomping Ground are leading a group discussion on how to identify and combat the barriers to empathy in the local community.
“These kids are our future leaders and we’re just trying to get them onboard with this now so it sticks when they grow up,” said Thomason.
Operations Director M.K. Thomason.
“I think it’s huge. We don’t do a lot of as explicit stuff during camp but the thing is we teach enough kids that we approach conflict like this that when conflict inevitably arises, kids being given second chances and understanding builds this in even if they just come to camp to play gaga,” said Thomason.
16-year-old Jack Sweeney Benzon spent the afternoon leading conversations on how to navigate the fear of open conflict.
“I want to facilitate these conversations and make sure that they can happen within our communities and make sure that people are listening to other people’s perspectives. I just had two different conversations on the same topic with two separate groups and they pointed out completely different things which is really cool to see,” said Sweeney Benzon.
Dan Forbush has lived in Saratoga Springs for 17 years. He’s happy to see local youth so civically engaged.
“It’s been very impressive. They’ve been very well prepared. They thought a lot about the issues and they’ve got a really good conversation started here which I find really valuable,” said Forbush.