A four-day week­end of events in Rome hon­or­ing Dr. Mar­tin Luther King Jr. con­cluded Monday with the Free­dom March, which drew hun­dreds, some hold­ing signs, oth­ers hold­ing hands as they made their way down Broad Street.

On a blustery morn­ing they walked, shoulder to shoulder, through down­town Rome, at times singing and chant­ing as they made their way toward City Hall.

Hun­dreds join the Free­dom March down Broad Street in Rome in observ­ance of the Mar­tin Luther King Jr. hol­i­day.

There they gathered in the City Aud­it­or­ium to hear the key­note address from Geor­gia State Rep­res­ent­at­ive Tanya Miller, who encour­aged those in attend­ance to be inspired by the words and work of King, even in the face of injustice.

Alvin Jack­son, vice chair­per­son of the Mar­tin Luther King Jr. Cel­eb­ra­tion Com­mit­tee, addresses march­ers out­side City Hall Monday.

“We gather here at a moment in our beloved Amer­ican his­tory marked by heart­break­ing viol­ence in our streets, anxi­ety in our homes, instabil­ity in our eco­nomy and deep

divi­sion in our nation,” Miller said. “A moment when many are temp­ted to with­draw, to dis­en­gage, to simply wait for calmer waters. But Dr. King warned us pre­cisely against this instinct. He said, ‘We are now faced with the fact that tomor­row is today. We are con­fron­ted with the fierce urgency of now.’”

Hun­dreds take part in the annual Free­dom March down Broad Street in Rome Monday.

Miller said King’s leg­acy lies in under­stand­ing the “long work of justice.”

Travis and Kayla Camp­bell sing along at the MLK Day cel­eb­ra­tion pro­gram at the Rome City Aud­it­or­ium Monday.

“The work of justice can’t be out­sourced,” Miller said. “He believed the long work of justice could bend the arc of his­tory. Not just because the power­ful had a change of heart, but because work­ing people of every hue stood together and refused to be invis­ible.”

Miller spoke dur­ing a jam­packed pro­gram that fea­tured the MLK Com­munity Choir as well as remarks from city of Rome and Floyd County lead­ers.

Miller had a mes­sage for them as well.

“If you’re going to lead the people, you’ve got to love them,” Miller said.

Sundai Steven­son, chair­per­son of the Mar­tin Luther King Jr. Cel­eb­ra­tion Com­mit­tee, said that people of all col­ors, creeds, reli­gions and back­grounds have a role to play in real­iz­ing the dream of equal rights for all.

“It doesn’t mat­ter how we look — dif­fer­ent col­ors, dif­fer­ent hues, young and old, black, white — this is what it’s going to take,” Steven­son said. “But you know what? We have to be inten­tional to get to that point.”

“(Dr. King) believed the long work of justice could bend the arc of his­tory. Not just because the power­ful had a change of heart, but because work­ing people of every hue stood together and refused to be invis­ible.” — State Rep. Tanya Miller

Read more here.