Spreading the love in Valley Stream on MLK Day

Injustice still exists in American society, religious and political leaders said at the Valley Stream Presbyterian Church’s eighth annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Monday night.
It exists in a world where one’s race, gender and zip code determines his or her place in society, the Rev. Kymberly Clemons-Jones said. Injustice can be seen when children are torn out of their parent’s hands at the southern border and when federal workers are not being paid for their work, said Malik Nadeem Abid, an ambassador to the United Nations’ International Human Rights Commission.
“There’s nothing but division in our country,” said Rev. Dr. Alvan Johnson Jr. Johnson is the pastor of Grant Memorial AME Church in Boston, Mass., and was the featured speaker at the ceremony.
Echoing Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech that “hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that,” Johnson said that we must combat this injustice by loving our neighbors like the bible commands. He said that King exemplified that love, which he knew was a gift from God.
“He showed us how to love one another,” Johnson said. “He taught us that we must love one another.”

Johnson nicknamed King “the King of Hearts,” and said that King was following God’s will when he fought against segregation. “He boycotted for us, he was stabbed for us, he died for us and we can model our hearts after him,” Johnson said.
If we don’t, he said, “our children will still be dying at the border of this country [and] our youth will still be shot down in the streets.” He also said that until we can love one another, swastikas will still be painted on synagogues, nooses will still hang up at colleges and the opioid epidemic will continue.
“The most powerful thing that we have is our hearts,” Johnson said.

For more photos of the event click here.