For many, Monday marked a celebration of a past and a future built on the words "I have a dream."
"Forty-five years later the King's dream lives on," said Jaham Smith, 24, who spent her Martin Luther King Jr. Day at a celebration in East Gainesville.
About 2,300 people gathered at the Martin Luther King Multi-Purpose Center on Monday afternoon to dance to live gospel and celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The event was part of a weeklong celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement.
Before the show, about 1,800 people walked to the Center from downtown in the annual Martin Luther King Jr. commemorative march, said Diyonne McGraw, an event organizer.
Barack Obama's Inauguration reminds the Rev. Karl Anderson of King's "I Have a Dream" speech 45 years ago.
"We're making great headway," said Anderson, master of ceremonies for the gospel show. "I think this will be a springboard to more."
But the inauguration does not embody the fulfillment of King's dream, said Janice Nix-Crews, treasurer for Martin Luther King Jr. Commission of Florida, which organized the event.
"This is the beginning of a dream," she said. "There is still racism. There are still poor people that need jobs and access to health care."
A Coretta Scott King observance will be held in honor of King's wife on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Passage Family Church.
"She sacrificed so much for the cause that we like to honor her separately," Nix-Crews said.
