Glen Cove celebrates MLK in 34th annual march

A gathering of 100 or so people fortified themselves with coffee, hot chocolate and cookies in the basement of Glen Cove’s First Baptist Church on Monday in preparation for the 34th annual march and commemoration in honor of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Before the march got under way, M.C. Sheryl Goodine, the retired assistant principal of Glen Cove High School, reminded the attendees that “Dr. King began every meeting or march with prayer.”
She then followed that example, expressing gratitude, especially for the police and fire departments, which had sent officers to keep the group safe. She brought to mind images from King’s marches, when police dogs and fire hoses were the norm and marchers were likely to be beaten and arrested rather than guided through downtown traffic. Now those departments include officers of many ethnicities, she said, which is evidence of progress. Then she evoked this year’s theme, 50 years after King’s assassination — “Still Striving Together” — saying, “We still have yet to achieve full equality for all people.”
With a rousing “Amen!” the marchers, which included Mayor Timothy Tenke, the entire City Council and County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton, made their way into the bright sunshine on a 20-degree morning and began the trek to Finley Middle School, where the commemorative program would be held. Marchers shared memories among themselves, both of past marches and of the long struggle for equality. Few in the crowd were old enough to remember King as a living presence on the national stage. In fact, a quarter of the marchers were young people.
As they made their way up the hill toward the school, they sang songs such as “Cry Freedom” and “We Shall Overcome.” One young woman, who declined to give her name, was asked what she was overcoming. She said simply, “Trump,” as she marched past.

When the marchers regathered in the middle school’s Wunsch Auditorium, Goodine began the program with a vibrant sevenfold call of “Harambe,” a Swahili word meaning “all pull together.” Harambe is a tradition of community building that originated in Kenya in the early days of the country’s independence.
Next came the Police Department color guard, joined by members of Girl Scout Troop 136. After the Pledge of Allegiance, the Glen Cove High School Select Chorale sang “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Tenke recounted how much was achieved with King’s leadership in so short a time. From the days of the Montgomery bus boycott, in 1955, to his assassination in April 1968, a scant 13 years saw the enactment of the farthest-reaching civil rights legislation since the ratification of the 13th Amendment in 1868. Returning to the event’s theme, Tenke reminded the marchers that “strive we must, as equality, respect and civility are messages that remain ever-relevant with today’s dynamic dialogues and challenges.” Quoting King, he said, “‘Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hatred cannot drive out hatred; only love can do that.’
“Let us all strive to be the light,” he concluded.
For many, the high point of the morning was a performance by the Edge School of the Arts dance troupe, from Laurelton, Queens, directed by Kerry Edge. The program concluded with the singing of “We Shall Overcome,” led by the Rev. Clarence Johnson of the First Church of God in Christ.