JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. –
Over 45 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. addressed one of the largest recorded political rallies in the United States with his “I Have a Dream” speech. Before the speech, King and followers marched in Washington D.C. to remind the U.S. of the constitutional statement “Liberty and Justice for all”.
On Jan. 17, 2020, service members and their families marched on Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, in remembrance of King and what he stood for.
Attendees took to marching down Pennsylvania Ave to the Timmerman Center on Joint Base MDL. A ceremony followed where U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Lorraine Cuff, 108th Wing Force Development superintendent, Joint Base MDL, spoke about King as a dreamer and doer.
“It is no small task to hold onto a dream to forge and fashion it for the right moment,” said Cuff. “In 1961, he spoke of the Civil Rights Movement and student activists' dream of equality—‘the American Dream ... a dream as yet unfulfilled.’”
King made an impact on defining U.S. equality and keeping the country accountable to the Constitution. He was a minister and speaker, traveling the U.S. and delivering speeches such as “The Other America,” “The Three Evils of Society” and “Beyond Vietnam.”
“In the eleven-year period between 1957 and 1968, King traveled over 6 million miles and spoke over 2,500 times, bringing protest and action wherever there was injustice,” according to Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute.
The national holiday theme is “Remember! Celebrate! Act! A Day On…Not A Day Off.” Joint Base MDL encourages action to make the American dream of equality come true.