Photo By Scott Sturkol | Fort McCoy community members participate in the 2024 Martin Luther King Jr. Day...... read more read more
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Dozens of Fort McCoy community members gathered Jan. 16 to celebrate the life and ideals of Martin Luther King (MLK) Jr. during Fort McCoy’s 2024 Martin Luther King Jr. Day Observance at McCoy’s Community Center at Fort McCoy.
The 2024 observance at Fort McCoy featured opening comments by Master Sgt. Ana Guzman with the Fort McCoy Equal Opportunity Office who organized the event. It also included an opening prayer by Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Amy Noble with the Fort McCoy Religious Support Office, and Fort McCoy Garrison Commander Col. Stephen Messenger spoke about the legacy of MLK Jr.
The 2024 theme for the observance was “Remember! Celebrate! Act! A Day On, Not A Day Off!”
After Messenger gave his presentation, a video of one of King’s most famous speeches, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” was played for the observance attendees.
Americans celebrated the first official Martin Luther King Day, which is the only federal holiday commemorating an African American, on Jan. 20, 1986. In 1994, Congress designated the holiday as a National Day of Service and made the third Monday in January every year the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service — a “Day On, Not a Day Off.”
King advocated for nonviolent resistance to overcome injustice as a means of lifting racial oppression. He created change with organized sit-ins, marches, and peaceful demonstrations that highlighted issues of inequality. King received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964; he was the youngest person to ever receive this high honor. He followed in the footsteps of his grandfather and father by entering the ministry to become a Baptist minister. On April 4, 1968, at the age of 39, he was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., as he stood on the balcony of his hotel. King had traveled to Memphis to lead a march in support of striking sanitation workers.
According to The King Center’s website, thekingcenter.org: “During the less than 13 years of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s leadership of the modern American Civil Rights Movement, from December 1955 until April 4, 1968, African Americans achieved more genuine progress toward racial equality in America than the previous 350 years had produced. Dr. King is widely regarded as America’s pre-eminent advocate of nonviolence and one of the greatest nonviolent leaders in world history.”
Messenger reflected on King’s legacy and his contributions, and more.
Today you can see Dr. King’s legacy embedded in the culture and values of our Army today,” Messenger said. “Everything he stood for is what the Army stands for. Indirectly, Army Soldiers have the courage to stand by the oath that we take, The Soldier’s Creed, to defend the American way of life and are committed to the same ideals that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood for to treat everyone equally with dignity and respect.”
Messenger also discussed the importance of community service and remembering King that way.
“We celebrate his legacy by engaging in community service,” Messenger said. “It is a time to remember that it’s about service to others and not to ourselves. I encourage you to dedicate … your lives to community service to serving others, to lifting others above yourself, … with whatever group you’re involved in. That’s what he wanted to do — to make society better for everyone.”
Messenger also reviewed the history of King’s involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, and more.
“King and his supporters (held) a massive demonstration in the nation’s capital to ask for peaceful change,” Messenger said. And the March on Washington on Aug. 28, 1963, brought (thousands) of people to D.C. And in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial, he read his famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, and in it he said, ‘I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged on the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
Messenger added that even today, people should be emulating King’s efforts.
“We have to do those … things just like Dr Martin Luther King Jr.,” Messenger said. “Reject passivity and take action when action is due. Put boots on the ground and engage people and accept responsibility, not for ourselves, but for the people who we work for and with and our families as we boldly and courageously move forward in our goals and objectives. … So as he once said, life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’ In honor of his legacy and service, his birthday is marked by individuals across the nation and community service projects. And as America’s Army, we also need to (dedicate to doing) service to others.
“Remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and this day that we celebrated,” Messenger said. I encourage you to think about how you can serve other people just like he did.”
For more information about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his work or to find other events related to the holiday, visit https://thekingcenter.org.
Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.”
Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.
The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”
Also try downloading the Digital Garrison app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”
| Date Taken: | 01.23.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 01.23.2024 14:26 |
| Story ID: | 462285 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 418 |
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