MLK Center ceremony celebrates many ‘firsts’

Hundreds participated in the MLK Center’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. commemorative march on Park Avenue on Monday. The parade route closely follows the one King took when he visited Long Beach in 1968. Photos by Kristie Arden/Herald

City Councilwoman Anissa Moore, the first African-American elected to the council, served as this year’s grand marshal. Moore read a poem that she wrote about continuing the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. "commitment of brotherhood and peace".

State Assemblyman Todd Kaminsky, far left, MLK Center Board Chair James Hodge, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, Town of Hempstead Councilwoman Dorothy Goosby, City Councilwoman Anissa Moore, City Councilwoman Eileen Goggin, City Council Vice President Anthony Eramo, City Council President Len Torres, and City Manager Jack Schnirman at Monday’s ceremony at the MLK Center. Heastie and Moore were honored by Goosby with certificates of recognition.

Photo by Kristie Arden/Herald

Children marched along the parade route on East Pine Street.

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Less than a year ago, Anissa Moore was preparing for spring break, ready to hop on a JetBlue flight to take her far from Nassau Community College, where she has been a communications professor for the past 19 years. On Monday, she marched down Park Avenue as the grand marshal of the Martin Luther King Center’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day ceremony in Long Beach, her home since 2009.

Moore was elected to the City Council in November, after she said she was unexpectedly approached last spring to run for a seat, and was celebrated as the first African-American to reach that office. She marched and joined with other similar “firsts” on MLK Day.  New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, the first African American in that position, gave the keynote address at the post-march ceremony at the MLK Center on Riverside Boulevard. Town of Hempstead Senior Councilwoman Dorothy Goosby, the first black woman to serve on that board, and Long Beach City Council President Len Torres, the first Latino elected to the council in 2009, were also in attendance.

The ceremony includes many youth groups to instill in them King’s legacy, including the MLK Youth Council and the Uniondale High School Choir, which performed “Glory” from the 2014 historical drama “Selma.” Marv McMoore, an alumni of Long Beach High School’s Class of 2011 and the president of the College Democrats of America, gave a speech. Assemblyman Todd Kaminsky (D-Long Beach), and members of the City Council also took part in the event.

Moored noted that the marchers and ceremony reflected the city’s diversity.

“It was a really positive feeling just to see so many different types of people come together,” said Moore, whose great-great-grandmother, Lucy Brown, was born into slavery in South Carolina. “And that’s really what Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy is all about. It’s about brotherhood and coming together. I felt we really did that on Monday.”