Bloomfield Celebrates Martin Luther King Jr.'s Legacy

As they have for the past ten years, the Bloomfield community turned out yesterday to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

At 4:00 on Monday afternoon, community leaders and residents of all ages gathered at the marking its 10th anniversary hosting the event. 

The event was led by Bloomfield Councilman at Large Bernard Hamilton.  The Community Choir, led by Reverend Shawn Hall, sang several gospel songs culminating with a solo performance of "Grateful" by Gloria Poston. 

Among the religious leaders who spoke were Reverend John Thomasson of Union Baptist Church, Reverend Anthony Porter of the Gospel Worship Center and Reverend Vernon C. Miller of the New Light Baptist Church.

“New Light Baptist did an unbelievable job with the event.  It's always a great day when you're celebrating the life of one of the world's greatest men,” praised Councilman Michael Venezia, who attended the event with other township government officials.

"The mood was reminiscent of the 1960's, with moving words of tribute, rousing gospel numbers and much sharing from a large and appreciative crowd," noted Rich Goldberg, representative of New Light Baptist Church and Board Member of the New Light Community Development Corporation. "Keynote speaker Reverend Deborah L. Spivey of St. Paul's Baptist Church in Montclair delivered an eloquent and stirring speech.”

“There were lots of standing ovations, especially when Reverend Deborah Spivey spoke.  She rocked the house with her powerful message,” said Patch photographer Veronica Yankowski.  “It was an emotional evening with several people taking the opportunity to speak about how King's message resonates today.” 

One such person was 85-year-old Bloomfield resident Lee Addie Taylor, who took the podium to reminisce about life before and after the Civil Rights era.  She discussed what it was like to live with segregation and how children today need to take advantage of the opportunities that she never had. 

On a related note, Councilman Bernard Hamilton brought the youngest audience member forward and gave him a beautiful framed photograph of Dr. King.  The child, Dominic Farms, was four years old.

“The many young people in the audience got a first-hand history lesson from speaker after speaker, sharing their personal reflections of Dr. King and the Freedom Movement,” said Goldberg.

"The drummers of the 1960s created immense opportunities that were simply not there beforehand," commented Councilman Nicholas Joanow, who remembered how revolutionary Dr. King's message was in the 1960s.  

"The message that we are to be respected for who we are and that every individual has the opportunity to aspire to being whatever he or she can be -- it changed the world, quite literally.  It's very important to commemmorate and memorialize an individual who made that possible."

He added, "We've made significant progress but there is still much to be done."

"I would like to thank everyone who came to share in the 10th Anniversary MLK Day Program,” said Hamilton.  “It was an enjoyable presentation on what we all should reflect upon. I hope the presentation was worthy of the accomplishments of a man who helped reshape America's culture for equality of all people."