Hundreds Gather to Remember King's Legacy

By Katie DePaola

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Hundreds of Loudoun County residents gathered Monday to honor Martin Luther King Jr. at Leesburg's 16th annual march.

Singing the words of James Weldon Johnson's "Lift Every Voice and Sing," local students, teachers, church members, activists and government officials met amid freezing temperatures to “march on till victory is won.”

The march began at the County Courthouse and ended at the nearby Douglass Community Center.

Brittany O'Dell, 14, of Leesburg, who stood with her sister, aunts and cousins before the event, said her reason for joining the march was simple, but personal.

“It's important for me to be here today because my mom is black and my dad is white and if they didn't meet, then they wouldn't have me,” she said.

Erik Episcopo, 17, of Leesburg, is a senior at Heritage High School. A teacher encouraged students to attend the march, which he did, along with his mother, Pauline Episcopo.

“It's important to honor a man who really fought for people's rights,” Erik Episcopo said.

For first-timers, like Leesburg resident Lisa Smith, the experience was an exciting one.

“I've actually never participated in one of the marches,” she said. “Last night we had a family gathering and everybody was saying, 'Let's go out and support the Martin Luther King march."

Her daughter, 17-year-old Stephanie Smith, was cold, but equally excited to be a part of the march.

“I'm excited to be here because I've never marched before,” she said.

While families gathered outside the Courthouse, organizations and religious groups, such as the Good Shepherd Alliance and Loudoun Interfaith Relief, also congregated, holding signs that revealed the names of their groups and their messages. Members of the Loudoun Progressive Action League carried signs declaring, “War is not the answer” and “Give peace a chance.”

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Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration

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Marchers in Leesburg celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a march from the County Courthouse to the Douglass Community Center in frigid temperatures. A lane of Market Street is dedicated to the marchers. (Dayna Smith)

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Some of the original members of the march, left to right: Doris Kidder, who founded the march; John Middleton, Mary Lee Perry and Margaret Lloyd, seated. On the left is KD Kidder, daughter of Doris Kidder. (Dayna Smith)

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Marchers in Leesburg celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a march from the County Courthouse to the Douglass Community Center in frigid temperatures. KD Kidder, left, and her mother, Doris Kidder, are shown at Douglass Community Center. Doris Kidder founded the march 15 years ago. (Dayna Smith)

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Marchers in Leesburg celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a march from the County Courthouse to the Douglass Community Center in frigid temperatures. (Dayna Smith)

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Marchers from the Prince Hall Masons pass Mom's Apple Pie on Market Street. (Dayna Smith)

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Marchers in Leesburg celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a march from the County Courthouse to the Douglass Community Center in frigid temperatures. (Dayna Smith)

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Marchers in Leesburg celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a march from the County Courthouse to the Douglass Community Center in frigid temperatures. Marchers here are on Market Street. (Dayna Smith)

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Carrie Corum, left, and Sheila Jasper, right, during a prayer preceding the march. (Dayna Smith)

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A participant casts a shadow on a County Courthouse monument during a prayer before the march begins. (Dayna Smith)

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Lester Jackson, left and Hugh Langston, front center, members of the Prince Hall Masons, before the march. (Dayna Smith)

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Marchers in Leesburg celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a march from the County Courthouse to the Douglass Community Center in frigid temperatures. (Dayna Smith)

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Emma Ancrum, of Leesburg, prepares to march at the Courthouse. (Dayna Smith)

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Habib Barazandehkar and his son, Sean, 14, came from Sterling to attend their eighth consecutive march in Leesburg. Other members of their religious community soon joined with colorful banners in hand.

“We are part of the Baha'i faith and we believe in race unity,” Habib Barazandehkar said. “No matter which country, which color or which nation, we are all brother and sister."

Jonathan Weintraub, of Taylorstown, is a member of four organizations that were present at the event: the Loudoun branch of the NAACP, the United Church of Christ in Lovettsville, the Loudoun Progressive Action League and Equality Loudoun, of which he is co-founder. Weintraub said he wouldn't have missed the day's activities.

“If you listen to the message of Dr. Martin Luther King, he really spoke the message of Jesus, which was equality and justice for all, inclusion for everyone," he said. "He spoke for equality of black people during an era of social discrimination … and he put his life on the line."

Weintraub's pastor, the Rev. Don Prange, of St. James United Church of Christ in Lovettsville, also attended the event. He said the cause has been important to him since he participated in the 1963 march in Washington where King gave his legendary “I Have a Dream” speech.

“I've got pictures here of the march on Washington that I did,” he said. “So that's why I'm here, because that spirit still needs to be stoked.”

To kick off the march, Tyler Jasper, 14, who attends First Baptist Church in Ashburn, read a piece that spoke of the “fierce urgency of now,” reiterating the words of King - words repeated by Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama.

And while some didn't consider the event a political affair, others took advantage of the opportunity to speak out. Signs and stickers for Obama, as well as for Republican candidates Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani, also found their way into the Douglass Community Center gymnasium.

The building is home of the former Douglass High School, which once served as the only all-black high school in Loudoun.

Doris Kidder, who founded the march in 1992, stood by the NAACP table in the gym. Kidder said that when her daughter brought her to a Martin Luther King Jr. celebration in Purcellville, she was so touched that she began attending NAACP meetings, asking them to sponsor a march in Leesburg.

“It took me about six meetings, and they finally got tired of listening to me, so they said they'd sponsor it,” said Kidder, who is assistant secretary of the Loudoun NAACP branch. “I think it's a great thing for the community. There's nothing that brings people together more than this.”

Phyllis Randall, the keynote speaker and a member of the Northern Virginia chapter of the NAACP, reiterated her words.

After a mix of song, prayer and poetry, Randall spoke of King, who she called, “the most remarkable man who has ever lived.” However, Randall said she didn't come to tell the story of King's life, but rather to challenge her audience.

“Instead of talking about what Dr. King has done for us, I want to take a minute to talk about what we owe him,” she said. “How do you think he would judge the successes of the causes for which he gave his life?”

Randall acknowledged improvements in the arts, business and education within the black community, but said there is still much work to be done, citing statistics about the number of black children born out of wedlock and lower voter turnouts among blacks.

“We owe him more,” she said. "I know the inequities. I know the unfairness, but that does not excuse us.”

Randall called upon youth, senior citizens and members of her generation to share King's message with others.

John C. Harrison, deputy of the Masonic district that includes Loudoun, said the Masons have a responsibility to help carry out King's dream.

“We have come a long way,” Harrison said. “If it had not been for Dr. Martin Luther King and his dream and his vision, then this whole country would have been messed up. We're on the right track, but we have a lot more to do.”

Tagged: Leesburg, march

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