BRAZOS COUNTY, Texas — It’s all about service here in the Brazos Valley as the community comes together for the 27th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom March.
From Sadie Thomas Memorial Park, hundreds of community members gathered for the MLK Freedom March that would take them through MLK Jr. St. to Rudder High School.
Agnes Gray is the chairperson for the Freedom March and for the past 27 years, she helped engrain this staple into the Brazos Valley area.
“Very encouraging, spirit lifting,” said Agnes Gray, Chairperson, MLK Freedom March. “Like I said, to see where you started from and see how we have progresses. How everybody looks forward to it.”
George Beckworth is an assistant principal at Jane Long Intermediate in Bryan and attends the march every year.
“Just look at all the wonderful people coming out and also trying to be a part of something that keeps the dream alive,” said George Beckworth, Assistant Principal, Bryan ISD.
Gray says in the first year, two to four hundred people joined the march, and before going virtual the past two years due to covid, it grew to eleven hundred people.
“To grow with it, it’s very inspirational,” said Gray. “You can speak about it, but unless you’ve lived it to see where you started from to see where you are now is very inspiring. It’s what keeps me going, even at my younger. Doing 27 years, I was not a spring chicken when I started and I’m not one now.”
Jessica McElroy is the president for the Brazos Valley Area Alumnae chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.
This march is about all the community coming together, she says.
“We want to see that it’s not just the African American community that’s celebrating Dr. King because we all benefit from his life and his legacy and moving the community forward,” said Jessica McElroy, President, Brazos Valley Area Alumnae Chapter, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
“The Civil Rights Movement was not just for black people. He was trying to help people that were [oppressed] people,” said Gray. “No matter what culture, what race you are in, your ethnicity, he was there to build you up, especially if you were left out.”
McElroy went to high school in Bryan and has returned to her roots for the past 10 years.
She sees people coming together, whereas before, she says the community was segregated.
“Over the year, just become much more inclusive and that you can go to restaurants and you’re going to see a bunch of different people, everybody is enjoying everybody’s company and I think that’s something that the Brazos Valley and honestly the Aggie Spirit that runs through there that helps us know that it’s not just one person’s community,” said McElroy. “It’s all of our community.”
Coming up this week, keeping the dream alive, the Lincoln Recreation Center will host an open house on Wednesday, January 18 to answer any questions on program, events, and memberships from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Also happening January 18, the United Church of Christ in College Station is hosting a book discussion on “Strength to Love” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.