MCC Martin Luther King Jr. celebration

For the past several years, Meridian Community College has held an event in-order-to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Today at MCC, the commemorative celebration took place with the them being, “get involved and make a difference.”

“We gather several people in the community so that we can make sure we have a diverse array of representation on that stage. We have people from different churches, different parts of the state of Mississippi, and we’ve all come together today to make sure that we celebrate joyously the history and the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” -Adrian Cross, MLK Committee Chair Person

“In terms of when you think about Dr. King’s I Have A Dream speech, he mentions Mississippi twice in his speech. He says, ‘go back to Mississippi.’ What he was describing was, and he mentions other states as well, was to go back and do something. It wasn’t just to come up there and listen to his speech. So, we still in Mississippi and other parts of the state and all over the country, have certain things we are still trying to deal with and certain things in dealing with inequalities. So, the only way you’re going to bring about change is that you have to be the change.” -Learnard Dickerson, President of Daco LLC

Other guest speakers included Mississippi senator Sampson Jackson II, and two middle school students were presented awards for winning the Martin Luther King Jr. essay contest.

“I’m just thankful to God for Jesus and the fact that God and Jesus created Martin Luther King, because if he didn’t we wouldn’t have a message today of peace. We wouldn’t have a message to spread to our children about the efforts that people put through.” -Cross

“And that’s all about. It’s all about showing love to somebody else; treating people that they’re all the same. And that’s the best thing you can do in terms of honoring those that have paved the way for us.” -Dickerson