For 40 years the Martin Luther King Jr. celebration has been held in Junction City. During the annual event Monday at the C.L. Hoover Opera House one keynote speaker, Ted Stevens, remembered that his mother, Ruby Stevens, who started the annual observance in the community, committed herself and this event to Junction City. "Greatest testament to what my mother founded 40 years ago still goes on."
Stevens told a large audience at the C.L. Hoover Opera House that Junction City is a remarkable multiethnic community, and that our rights and freedoms must be mutually agreed on. In addressing issues such as food insecurity and lack of housing he believed King would have expected a nonviolent course of action including participation, perseverance and peaceful protest for good. He read from a letter written by King. "We who engage in nonviolent direct action bring into the open tensions that are already there, and if equality fails to become reality we will miss one of the greatest opportunities bestowed upon a nation."
Another keynote speaker, Sabrina Ware, sister of the late educator and King Celebration leader, Lorraine Williams Walker, noted that Ruby Stevens was a true teacher and a great influence on Lorraine.
Ware said that her sister loved school and also pointed to Lorraine's efforts to keep the playground at Washington Elementary School open during non-school hours so that any children could use it. Lorraine had served as the principal at Washington Elementary School. "
The ceremony included musical performances of "Freedom" and "Lift Every Voice and Sing."
Coretta Scott King Courage Award
Every year during the celebration the Coretta Scott King Courage Award is presented to members of the community. This year's recipients included Barbara Wright and Mary Wilson-Snipes.
There is normally a commemorative march to conclude the event but it could not be held this year dur to the bitter cold weather that descended on Junction City.