Region honors King with marches, services

Marches and services were held in Clovis and Portales Monday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.

The 31st annual Martin Luther King Jr. walk was held in Clovis with approximately 60 people in attendance.

Participants walked from Potter Park on West Grand Avenue to the St. John the Baptist Church on Gila Street.

A service was held at the church featuring singing and speaking.

Emcee for the event was Curry County Democratic Chair Tony Mahan.

Clovis Mayor Mike Morris and Curry County Commissioner Fidel Madrid gave welcoming remarks from the city and county.

Roger Grooms gave a speech in which he stated "America has defaulted on its promise" and "America has given the negro a bad check" when it comes to freedom and equality.

Grooms spoke of the messages of Abraham Lincoln and King.

St. John the Baptist Church Pastor Kent Creamer was the keynote speaker for the event.

Creamer spoke from Matthew 25: " For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me."

Creamer spoke of King's work in the 1950s and '60s and "to the casual observer" it would look as if race relations are better in America today.

"Colin Kaepernick would disagree," Creamer said. "George Floyd would disagree."

Creamer said it wasn't up to the government to fix things in society.

"The job of fixing this nation is not the government's," Creamer said. He said fixing the country is "the true church's job."

Portales and Eastern New Mexico University combined resources Monday to commemorate the life of King, the civil rights pioneer and leader, with a march that included the Portales High School marching band and a ceremony at ENMU's Campus Union Building.

The march from Portales' Memorial Building to the Campus Union Building covered 1.1 miles and received a heavy police escort. There was a short ceremony involving prayers and presentation of the theme: "A legacy of strength, a future of action."

Following the march, about 200 people gathered in the Grand Ballroom of the Campus Union Building for speeches, award presentations and more music from the Portales High School choir.

ENMU's new chancellor, James Johnston, said King showed the world "the power of a dream, the power of a vision and the power of a life well lived."

Col. Terence G. Taylor, commander of Cannon Air Force Base, told the audience, "We look back on the life of Dr. King with positivity, clarity and thankfulness."

Everyone, he said, stands at "the crossroads of legacy and the future," and King, he said, left a powerful legacy.

Taylor told a story about King's historic "I have a dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963.

The drafted speech that King had prepared did not include the "I have a dream" portion, Taylor said. King had been advised against using it.

The Gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, however, had performed before King spoke and stood just behind him as he began his speech.

Jackson prodded him, "Tell them about the dream, Martin. Tell them about the dream."

King then set aside the prepared speech, and "went from lecturer to preacher mode," Taylor said.

"His body language changed," Taylor said, "and he started to deliver one of the most memorable speeches in history."

In the days of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, Taylor asked, "What would you have done?"

Participants in the early civil rights movement, he said, chose to take action toward "a greater good that wasn't necessarily guaranteed."

King, he said, showed "strength and courage in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds at great peril to himself and his family."

Taylor said he sees the power of leadership, determination and strength at Cannon's 27th Air Command and in local communities, and urged audience members to carry King's legacy of strength forward together in one community to build a brighter future for all.

Tamia Smith, ENMU's student body president, said King did much to "hold his country accountable to its own founding principles of freedom justice and equality. "

King taught that "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," Smith said. "I go through that as a Black woman today."

Without King's inspiration, she said, "I would not have been able to accomplish as much in my life, like being student body president."

Devon Martinez, a Portales High School student, read his essay on King that won a school-wide award named for Dolores Penrod, described as a long-time advocate for "underserved communities" in Portales by Amanda Strong, a member of Portales' Cultural Affairs Committee.

Martinez noted King said "We will not defeat oppression, violence and hate with oppression, violence and hate," and used non-violent "action and strength" to fight "bigotry, hate and violence."

Martinez also said King's example inspired Latin American revolutionaries against oppressive regimes.

The talks were followed by community and campus awards, including Chairman's Awards presented by Oscar Robinson, chair of the Portales Cultural Affairs Committee. Awards were presented to Patrice Caldwell, who recently retired as ENMU's chancellor; Strong, a Portales teacher; and the Philmar Dairy for its contributions to the King commemoration.

Strong named winners of a contest among Portales elementary school students to color a portrait of King.

Linda Ramos, ENMU 's Campus Life assistant director, presented a Six Principles of Non-Violence Award, named for a King essay, to ENMU's Wildlife Club for contributions to education and community interaction. Rey Coss, ENMU's Campus Life director, presented a Boyd Jackson Memorial award to Johnston.

Jackson was known for dedicating much of his life to helping young Black students complete their education, Coss said.

Steve Hansen of The News contributed to this report.