MICHELLE WILLARD, Post Staff Writer
Posted: Monday, January 18, 2010 2:14 pm

The Murfreesboro Masonic Lodge No. 12 P.H.A. and others marched from Central Middle School to Patterson Park Community Center in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. TMP/M. Willard

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a day to teach children about the past, said Shawn Brown, MLK March organizer.

“It’s a day to come out and honor Martin Luther King Jr. and what he did to allow us the freedoms we have today,” Brown said.

Members of the black community joined Brown and Murfreesboro Masonic Lodge No. 12 P.H.A. for its annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day march from Central Middle School to Patterson Park Community Center.

Last year the group said Obama’s election to the highest office in the land fulfilled King’s dream and that sentiment flowed through the crowd Monday afternoon.

“It’s a continuation of the dream Martin Luther King had,” Brown said.

Many from the older generations never thought the day would come, but not that it has, Obama’s presidency will give the younger generations something to aspire to, he added.

“It shows it (the presidency) is not just a white thing, but a people thing. And that if we love one another, we can help get this country back on it’s feet,” marcher Sharon Hood said.

According to a recently released Pew Research Center survey, 54 percent of blacks feel Obama's barrier-breaking election has improved race relations in America.

That includes Hood.

“It’s broken some barriers, barriers that have never been broken,” she said.

But other marchers think Obama’s presidency has brought racial tensions back to the surface of society.

“It’s brought things out that have been suppressed,” marcher Marion Bingham said.

She’s seen racism more recently “from churches to workplaces,” she said. “It really came out strong.”

Now that it’s out in the open more, Bingham hopes the nation can deal with racism in a positive way.

“But in order for that to work, everyone must work together,” she said.

Michelle Willard can be contacted at 615-869-0816 or mwillard@murfreesboropost.com.