“I still have to confess that I was conflicted,” said the Dayton-area pastor about the iconic phrase King repeated in his speech. “The theme for (Monday) is it’s time to fulfill the dream.
“My disturbance arises from the word ‘dream.’ Because in order to dream, you have to be asleep, and when you are asleep, you are in the most vulnerable state you’ve ever been in your life.”
Davis said being awake, or “woke,” is something not to make light of, though many in society mock the term.
“Being woke in a society today means that you know who you are, means you know from whence you came,” he said. “It means that you know where you are going. If you do not know from whence you came, you can never proceed to where God wants you to go.”
The walk started at 11 a.m. from the Booker T. Washington Community Center on South Front Street and moved to the House of Deliverance on South Second Street. Community leaders, faith leaders and citizens walked side by side for about two miles up South Front Street, east on High Street and then South on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, west on Ludlow and south on South Second Street to the church.
Before the crowd went inside the church for the noontime MLK Jr. Day service, Pastor Victor L. Davis said that “coming together gives us strength, and we acknowledge the fact that we need to be together. For freedom is not easily coming. It’s a struggle.”
Pastor Archie Johnson addressed the crowd during the service. He said the participation by the community and its leaders “shows our collaboration and that we can do it together.”
“I’m excited about what God’s doing in our community, what we’re able to do together,” he said. “It takes all of us to make it happen.”
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