By MADDY VITALE
Rev. Gregory Johnson, of Shiloh Baptist Church, delivered a message to be strong and stay in the “fight” to create a world that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. could be proud of.
But there is much work that still must be done, Johnson said in his keynote address at the MLK ceremony in Ocean City on Monday.
“You are still in the land of the living today. We are blessed to be here. We have some more struggles we have to go through,” he told the audience.
Video courtesy City of Ocean City
With a resounding voice that captured the attention of the crowd at the Bill and Nancy Hughes Performing Arts Center at the high school, Johnson spoke of hope and conviction.
He reflected on the new year, the beginning of a new decade.
“I thought about 2020. What would Dr. King say about America today? It is in the Lord’s hands now. If that is all Dr. King would say to me today, then I have something I need to say from me to you,” Johnson said, raising his arms in the air.
He continued, “Something is wrong with America today. We are losing our communities to drugs. We are losing our family values to technology. We are dealing with hatred, jealousy. There is still something wrong in America.”
Johnson offered this advice: “We must stay in this fight together. Even if you have to weave and bob — stay in the fight with me — we can’t give up now. We have a long way to go, but thank God he brought us this far.”
He then recited King’s epic “I Have a Dream” speech from 1963.
People in the audience erupted in applause.
Earlier in the program, Mayor Jay Gillian addressed the crowd.
Much like the reverend, Gillian’s words were about coming together.
“We stand here today at a time when our world seems divided,” Gillian pointed out. “It might be easy to compare the times to what Martin Luther King had to deal with.”
But what King went through was much more than a nasty comment on a social media platform, it was much more serious, far more serious, Gillian emphasized.
It is time to do what King did and strive for unity, he said.
“I believe more than ever, in unity in the community,” Gillian said. “I feel blessed to live here and serve as the mayor of your community.”
Six people were honored during the program for being important members of the community.
Assemblyman Antwan McClellan, organ-donor advocate Joseph Pratt, Community Action Now founder and Amnesty International leader Georgina Shanley, and Ocean City Juneteenth founders and organizers Brittany Battle, Takiya Wilson and Joshua Baker received Martin Luther King Service Awards for their contributions.
Gillian said McClellan will be missed from City Council as he ventures into a new career as an assemblyman.
“You think about people in life. I am blessed to be around him,” Gillian noted.
The mayor joked that he wished McClellan did not win, so that the city would not lose him to Trenton.
McClellan, he said, is a friend and a person who has done so much to help the community, from projects at the Historical Museum to the Sports Hall of Fame.
“He listens to both sides,” Gillian said of McClellan’s attributes, adding that he will be successful in his new political role.
The mayor also noted how important the other honorees were for their contributions.
The Ocean City Juneteenth celebration, created by Battle, Baker and Wilson, commemorates the end of slavery and continues to bring the community together year after year. It is an important event, Gillian said, one that he enjoys attending.
Among the dignitaries was Congressman Jeff Van Drew.
Van Drew noted in his remarks that he could only recall one time in all the years of the MLK event in Ocean City when he missed one.
He pointed out that it is a very important time in history, that joining together, not being divided, is what the country should be all about. No matter what side of the table you are on politically, what race you are, it is about unity, he said.
“Whether you are a Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, we are together,” Van Drew said.
Other dignitaries who attended the event were Ocean City Regional Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Michele Gillian, Business Administrator George Savastano, Ocean City Council members Bob Barr, Karen Bergman, Michael DeVlieger, Keith Hartzell and Tony Wilson, Ocean City Schools Superintendent Dr. Kathleen Taylor, School Board President Joseph Clark, Assemblyman Erik Simonsen and Cape May County Freeholder E. Marie Hayes. Civic leaders and other dignitaries also filled the stage and the audience.
During the ceremony, four students from the Ocean City Intermediate School read their award-winning essays about the impact Dr. King has had in all lives.
The students were Elizabeth Herrera, Matt Bell, Luke Wagner and Kristiana Bauer.
At the end of the service, the Freedom Singers brought the audience members to their feet as people swayed and sang “We Shall Overcome,” the anthem of the civil rights movement.
After the ceremony, a soul food luncheon was served. People lined up for heaping portions of chicken, rice, vegetables and desserts and joined for some fellowship.
City Councilman Keith Hartzell spoke from the stage about the importance of the luncheon.
“It is about us working together,” he noted. “Fellowship afterward, that is what Dr. King’s dream was.”
Ocean City Public Information Officer Doug Bergen said in a release that the late Rozelia Cobb, an Ocean City Intermediate School special education teacher, organized the inaugural Dr. Martin Luther King Ceremony in Ocean City 30 years ago. The ceremony follows a volunteer citywide cleanup that is another part of the MLK celebration.
Rev. Marcia Stanford, a pastor at Macedonia UMC and chaplain at The Shores Communities, did not deliver the closing remarks, rather the opening.
But her words summed up what the day means to many.
“I came to praise the Lord and to honor a man who died for our rights,” Stanford said. “I came so we can all welcome each other, show love to each other and remember who Martin Luther King is and who he was. Celebrate with us. Remember with us. When you leave this place, serve with us.”
