Please join us for the annual MLK day parade in downtown Orlando to celebrate the legacy of the great civil rights leader, Nobel Laureate, and national hero Martin Luther King, Jr.

For more information contact George Jordan at 407-246-3661.

PARADE

In Memoriam:

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.  (1929-1968)

Today we honor not just a dreamer but also a doer, a builder, and above all a Founding Father –

the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. King innately understood that our Declaration of Independence is at once a work for the ages and an unfinished work in progress and he spent his life and ultimately even gave his life in order to perfect the Foundation of our American Democracy.

Dr. King understood that we must all be builders of our own democracy throughout every generation – that is for us to continuously build our freedom upon the works of prior generations and pass that freedom on to future generations to continue that building.

The Great Seal of the United States symbolizes this unfinished work by its unfinished pyramid on the reverse side and the Latin mottos “Novus Ordo Seclorum” meaning “a new order of the ages” and "Annuit Coeptis" meaning “he approves of our undertakings”. 

Our Great Seal further contains the Latin motto "E Pluribus Unum" meaning "out of many, one" – signifying that we Americans are of many races, many colors, many languages, many religious beliefs, and come from many places, states, and nations.

We speak many different languages, practice many different customs and often live radically different lives from one another - yet we are all one - We are all Americans, we are all one nation dedicated to the Jeffersonian ideal of the Declaration that we are created equal, each one of us, and endowed with "inalienable rights to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness".

On August 28th, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. eloquently restated Jefferson in the Declaration, in his own Declaration to the world, his dream that "one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.'"

King's words on that day are as immortal as Jefferson's before him:

“I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.”

Like Washington or Jefferson amongst the other Founders of 1776, Dr. King was a leader amongst a pantheon of leaders and a builder upon the previous efforts of others who came before him and upon the works of those who built alongside him:

Men like A. Phillip Randolph, an African American labor organizer and civil rights activist who convinced President Roosevelt to issue Executive Order 8802 desegregating the defense industries stating that there should be "no discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries or Government because of race, creed, color, or national origin."

Men and women of conscience and courage like Rosa Parks, James Meredith, Andrew Young, Ralph David Abernathy, John Lewis, Julian Bond, and many many others who repeatedly risked and many times gave their lives in helping their fellow Americans realize the dream that we are all created equal.

The promise of the Declaration was largely realized by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, passed July 2nd, 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed August 6th, 1965 – yet the work of Dr. King, like the builders of our American democracy who came before him still remains an unfinished work.

Too many in our nation still fail to grasp that ours is a nation is based on Jefferson's Declaration that “we are all created equal” – and not upon a single language or a single culture.

In 2008, women are still being paid substantially less than their male counterparts in similar jobs and being under-represented in the most powerful positions in government, academia and the business world even to the present day.

Discrimination based on sexual orientation by society and even under the law were once the norm in our nation as was discrimination based on race before it.  The Stonewall Riots of 1969 first brought this discrimination to the American consciousness - yet it continues largely unresolved today across a wide variety of issues from hate crimes, to military service, to job discrimination, to domestic partner benefits and adoption rights.

In the 21^st Century, we find ourselves facing new challenges in the struggle for freedom, equality and democracy.  People of Middle Eastern descent and of the Muslim faith have found themselves the victims of hate crimes and persecution.  Constitutional rights we have taken for granted for generations have suddenly been called into question in the name of protecting our safety.  We seem to find ourselves at a new crossroads on this march where we are being asked to choose between our security and our liberty.

Let us rise up together to continue Dr. King's unfinished work for it is our unfinished work too.

OCDEC General Meeting

Please join us for our monthly business meeting - there is much to do with the upcoming House District 32 Special Election on February 26th, 2008 and the January 29th, 2008 Presidential Preference Primary and municipal races.

We need your help to get ready for these elections, to join committees and participate in the work and the fun.

Longer term we need your help to build the party in Orange County and to help us in the statewide primary in August and the national general election in November of next year.

Please try to recruit a friend or two and bring them with you to the meeting on Monday to join us!

Thanks,

The Meeting will be at:

Classroom Teachers Assocation
1020 Webster Avenue
Orlando, FL 32804

from  7pm-830pm Monday January 21st, 2008

The 2nd Annual Networking Reception and Town Hall Meeting

Sponsored by the Black History Committee of Orange County, Inc.

Keynote Speaker: Orlando Police Chief Val Demings

Topic: "Stop the Violence in Our Community: How to Raise Productive Citizens"

5:30-7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Orlando City Hall Rotunda

One City Commons

400 S Orange Ave.

Orlando, FL 32801

RSVP: John Robinson at 321-202-5967 (please tell him where you saw this notice)