Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

HATTIESBURG, MISS. – Monday morning inside of the USM Thad Cochran Center Ballroom, residents from all around the city of Hattiesburg gathered together to honor a civil rights icon.

“In 1968, I was twelve-years-old when he was assassinated, but I studied him,” Jack Coleman, the president of the Mu Gamma Lambda chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. said. “He was an Alpha, one of the reasons why I became an Alpha, because of what he stood for.”

The Mu Gamma Lambda chapter hosted the 13th Annual MLK Interracial and Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast, and Monday’s theme was “One America.” “We want everyone to come together as a community,” Coleman said. “To show that even as we are diverse, we are one country and one America.” During the breakfast residents took to the podium, to pray, and one-by-one residents prayed for unity. “Well it is essential, one for us to honor the life of a dear brother of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, and especially the significance of his life,” Eddie Holloway, the MLK Prayer Breakfast Committee Chair said. “He brought to the world stage an effort of unity and appreciation for people, and especially their differences.” Ultimately, uniting a divided society, a process that still continues today.