A local organization held its annual Martin Luther King Junior Day March in Downtown Gainesville on Saturday.
The Newtown Florist Club has been in the Gainesville Community for 75 years and advocates for education, environmental justice, access to healthcare and civil rights. The annual event sees the march begin at South State Bank, circle the downtown square, and proceed to the historic Butler Center on Athens Street in the city.
The event aims to echo MLK’s message of peace, unity and justice within the Gainesville community. Newtown Florist Club Board Member Andre Cheek-Castleberry shared she has participated in the annual march her whole life, beginning the tradition with her parents as a child. She said King’s message is relevant even outside of the holiday.
“It’s not just for people of color, its for everybody,” Cheek-Castleberry said. “With everything that’s going on in this world today, we all need to be a united front, standing for justice, equality. And it’s not we can just walk during the month of January. It’s all year round. It should be a part of who everybody is.”…