Activists in coalition ringing the bell for human rights: "We Won't Go Back!"

Marchers holding up a People’s Organization for Progress (P.O.P) banner at the P.O. P’s annual ‘MLK march ‘ on Jan. 15, 2023. (Photo courtesy of Ande Richards)

On Sunday, in celebration of the 94th birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the People's Organization for Progress (P.O.P) led its annual "MLK March," in activist-coalition form and style. P.O.P representatives say the forces of racism, white supremacy, and fascism seek to drag us back to the pre-Civil Rights era, but this year, they’re saying: “We won’t go back!”

"I believe in what Dr. King stood for and that there is much more work to be done,” said Tyrone Lockett, an activist from Newark, NJ. “I am here to honor him and the ancestors who came before us because of what they went through in the fight to live a free and decent life."

Fifty-nine years since the gauntlet was laid down by Dr. King to end materialism, militarism, and racism — an argument grounded in a revolution of moral values demands we all stay in the struggle.

"As a white woman with Black children, I am scared for them,” said Marcella Simadiris, an educator who lives in Montclair. “I can't walk away from the fight for their basic humanity.” For her, to stay in the struggle for posterity is to fight, and she calls on everyone to join her. 

As is tradition when commemorating this political activist’s birthday, citizens reflect and recommit to his philosophy and ponder the distance from his call for a revolution of moral values and the road ahead.

For some citizens, like Justice Reins, a nonprofit leader and activist from Paterson, nothing has changed. "I am here because it represents a critical moment in history. I still carry the same signs and say the same slogans that MLK used in hopes of change,” she said.

Rein says the honorary marches for King won’t stop and she will continue to show up because the reverend was “murdered for our freedom and rights.” She added, “We won't go back because, as Dr. King said, ‘we have an entwined destiny."

Scores of marchers, including grandparents, toddlers, and the disabled, in a multi-racial/ethnic and class coalition, took to the streets in an act of occupying the public space to give their voice to the current crisis in human rights. Many spoke out on the devastation of the commons, the egregious material conditions of the 99%, and the psychic and physical genocide of Black, Indigenous, and other non-white designated people. 

So in fellowship and commitment to the movement, citizens marched with signs that spoke to very real and concrete issues like housing as a human right, putting an end to police brutality, promoting peace not war, and workers’ rights.

"I am here today to be with like-minded people, to be in community and show camaraderie,” said Danilo Lopez, a recent college graduate from Dover.  “We are all here working towards the same goal." For Lopez, civic engagement is integral to building any movement towards a just society.

The march ended with a recommitment to the ongoing fight for Dr. King’s vision.