The pews at First Church of Christ were filled as a tight-knit Simsbury community came together to remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“I am grateful that today, almost 56 years after the assassination of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we are still celebrating his legacy,” keynote speaker Dr. Tayarisha Batchelor said.
Batchelor is the director of Equity and Access for Simsbury Public Schools. Her speech focused on peace and belonging.
“A sophomore says stop being afraid to talk to each other, peace does not mean you have to be quiet. Peace means you can express yourself freely and be at peace with your truth,” Batchelor said, sharing the message of a student.
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Throughout the day, people in town gathered at the MLK in CT Memorial dedicated to Dr. King, his devotion to civil rights and his time in Simsbury. In the 1940s, Dr. King spent two summers in town working on a tobacco farm.
“In one of his letters, he wrote to his mother in Georgia while he was in Simsbury, that he felt an inescapable sense of responsibility and a call to service while he was here,” MLK in CT Memorial committee co-president Audrey Chaung said.
In 2010, a group of students from Simsbury High School formed a committee to put together a MLK documentary and later fundraised to build the memorial.
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The committee hopes the site will inspire residents to carry out Dr. King’s work.
“I think it’s very important to continue that message and continue bringing everyone together and uniting the fight against racism and continue education in our community about his time in Simsbury and about his message to the greater world,” MLK in CT Memorial committee co-president Paris Albrecht said.
“It’s just a way for us to connect with him and his message and his mission, and I think anytime you can connect with someone like that, really an icon, it is an easier step to grow,” committee advisor Tara Willerup said.
