Connecticut Commemorates Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream.

That one day, his four children would be able to “live in a nation where they would not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

As Connecticut celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Monday with a ceremony at the state Capitol in Hartford, most everyone who spoke acknowledged that the country and society has come a long way since King delivered those words as part of his famous speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in August 1963, when the nation was embroiled in the struggle of the civil rights movement.

But if there was one constant during Monday’s ceremony in Hartford, which was sponsored by the Connecticut Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Commission, it was that we still had a ways to go to achieve King’s dream of freedom and equality for all people.

“It’s not a day off, it’s a day on,” U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said during his remarks Monday.

Blumenthal encouraged people to spend the day, a federal holiday signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1983 and first observed on Jan. 20, 1986, not just by reflecting back on King’s philosophy and teachings, but also by striving to meet the “challenge” of making King’s dream a reality.

“It’s still a dream,” Blumenthal said, noting that many racial inequalities still exist today, from access to health care to income disparity. “We are still a work in progress.”

In addition to Blumenthal, the event was attended by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman, U.S. Rep. Christopher Murphy, D-5th District, a number of state legislators and constitutional officers, community activists, local dignitaries, students and many others who gathered to  honor King’s life and memory.

In addition to the speeches, the event featured a rendition of the “Negro National Anthem,” sung by Jazzmine Pertillar, a keynote address by Dr. James Lewis III, and a ceremonial ringing of the National Liberty Bell in the main hallway of the Capitol after the ceremony.

About a half-dozen students from Simsbury High School were also in attendance, because the school helped produce a documentary, “Dr. King in Connecticut,” about the two summers King spent picking cotton in Simsbury during his youth in the 1940s that would shape his outlook on society and civil rights. The 15-minute documentary was screened as part of the ceremony.

“Simsbury is very proud to have a small part in the life of Dr. Martin Luther King and we’re very honored that you included us in your program today,” said T.J. Donohue, a Simsbury resident who helped the students with the documentary.

In his remarks, Malloy urged people to spend the day reflecting on King’s message of peace and unity, and then to think and act in ways that would make his dream a reality for all.

“Let us not leave these halls without remembering what he taught us,” Malloy said. “A lifetime of commitment, a lifetime of effort, from which progress is derived.”