About 200 students and parents from West Bloomfield and Detroit schools gathered Sunday on the eve of Martin Luther King Jr. Day at West Bloomfield High School to celebrate the civil rights leader’s legacy and to acknowledge the progress of his dream.
The 19th annual United We Walk event included song, dance, speeches and a commemorative march along Orchard Lake Road. After gathering to the tunes of the high school’s jazz band, the students and supporters took to the streets, walking along Orchard Lake Road to about Walnut Lake Road and returning.
“It symbolizes the Civil Rights marches of the ‘60s,” said David Flaisher, former West Bloomfield Township supervisor and United We Walk committee member. “It’s about the things that Martin Luther King Jr. stood for.”
Flaisher said the original event was started nearly two decades ago by West Bloomfield students and residents looking for a way to observe the newly-created holiday.
The main draw Sunday was the keynote speech, given by David Merritt, a West Bloomfield High School graduate who was a walk-on basketball player at the University of Michigan and who has started a clothing company that donates 20% of its earnings to college scholarships.
Merritt’s spoke about his dreams, first to become a basketball player, then to start a company with a social justice mission. He told the students that having a dream was just a start, but that achieving that dream and sharing that dream were also part of MLK’s message.
“People are waiting to hear something like that to build their own dreams, to build their own faith,” he said. “Dr. King’s dream had nothing to do with himself. His dream is 100% the welfare of other people.”
Denzel Washington CQ, 16, a student from Northwestern High School who came with some of his classmates to be part of the celebration, said watching a video about Martin Luther King Jr. changed his perspective.
“I began reassessing my values and why I am here,” said Washington, who plans to attend Marygrove College and become a history teacher.
One of his teachers, part of another committee that organizes a student-exchange between Cody High School, Denby High School and Northwestern High School and West Bloomfield High School said teaching the students about the civil rights leader has its aha moments.
David Britten said he saw a lot of lightbulbs go on when he showed his students King’s speech about sacrifice, and talked about how people would die including King.
“I think that made a lot of kids wake up,” Britten said.
The 19th annual United We Walk event included song, dance, speeches and a commemorative march along Orchard Lake Road. After gathering to the tunes of the high school’s jazz band, the students and supporters took to the streets, walking along Orchard Lake Road to about Walnut Lake Road and returning.
“It symbolizes the Civil Rights marches of the ‘60s,” said David Flaisher, former West Bloomfield Township supervisor and United We Walk committee member. “It’s about the things that Martin Luther King Jr. stood for.”
Flaisher said the original event was started nearly two decades ago by West Bloomfield students and residents looking for a way to observe the newly-created holiday.
The main draw Sunday was the keynote speech, given by David Merritt, a West Bloomfield High School graduate who was a walk-on basketball player at the University of Michigan and who has started a clothing company that donates 20% of its earnings to college scholarships.
Merritt’s spoke about his dreams, first to become a basketball player, then to start a company with a social justice mission. He told the students that having a dream was just a start, but that achieving that dream and sharing that dream were also part of MLK’s message.
“People are waiting to hear something like that to build their own dreams, to build their own faith,” he said. “Dr. King’s dream had nothing to do with himself. His dream is 100% the welfare of other people.”
Denzel Washington CQ, 16, a student from Northwestern High School who came with some of his classmates to be part of the celebration, said watching a video about Martin Luther King Jr. changed his perspective.
“I began reassessing my values and why I am here,” said Washington, who plans to attend Marygrove College and become a history teacher.
One of his teachers, part of another committee that organizes a student-exchange between Cody High School, Denby High School and Northwestern High School and West Bloomfield High School said teaching the students about the civil rights leader has its aha moments.
David Britten said he saw a lot of lightbulbs go on when he showed his students King’s speech about sacrifice, and talked about how people would die including King.
“I think that made a lot of kids wake up,” Britten said.