Each year, across the United States and the U.S. Virgin Islands, communities come together to honor the life of Martin Luther King Jr., whose tireless fight for civil rights and social justice changed the trajectory of American History. On Monday, residents of St. Croix came out in crowds of over 500 people to march in honor of the civil rights leader.
Schools including St. Croix Educational Complex, St. Croix Central High School, John H. Woodson Junior High, Lew Muckle Elementary, Claude O. Marco Elementary, Alfredo Andrews Elementary, Eulalie Rivera Elementary, St. Mary’s Catholic School, and St. Croix Seventh-day Adventist School participated. Additionally, groups like the Girl Scouts of St. Croix, fraternities, sororities, and many others also took part.
Immediately after the march, a ceremony was held in honor of King and the ceremony opened with conch blows from Terrence “Positive” Nelson and community member Jesus Espinosa. Masters of ceremony George Otto and Benson Ward led attendees through the program. Otto quoted King and said, “If justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. Tide in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one, affects all indirectly.”
“This applies to school, this applies to the government, this applies to parents, this applies how you love people, this applies to anything. The same way we treat people, the same energy is going to come back to you,” said Otto.
Civil Rights Committee Chair-President Antoinette Rampersad led the crowd in singing the song “We Shall Overcome,” and a moment of silence was recognized for locals who we have lost over the years. Student Kaleb Joseph from Lew Muckle Elementary School delivered an emotional rendition of King’s iconic 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech, originally recited at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Joseph recited from memory and delivered with tears in his eyes.
A special keynote message was delivered by the CEO of AST Speaks and an assistant professor at the University of the Virgin Islands, Chenzira Davis-Kahina.
“What really caught me was seeing a sea of young people. We saw the children come through today. What we saw today is what was important for them to share their voice, their vision, their power, their leadership in the Virgin Islands, St. Croix in particular,” she said.
“When we speak of a great man of peace, a great man of nonviolence, of civil disobedience, of leadership and strength. Someone who could articulate and enunciate every element of language in English and make it meaningful to a person who does not even speak that language. That is part of the embodiment of that man of peace, that man of God, that man of infinite source, Martin Luther King Jr. was,” said Davis-Kahina.
She also referred to another one of King’s speeches delivered in 1963, in which he said, “Everywhere paralyzing fears harrow people by day and haunt them by night. Deep clouds of anxiety and depression are suspended in our mental skies. More people are emotionally disturbed today than at any other time in human history.”
“Doesn’t that sound familiar? Does it sound similar to what we are experiencing right here, right now, more than 60 years later?” Davis Kahina asked.
Other performances were by the St. Croix Central High School’s “Golden Voices,” who sang The national anthem, The Virgin Islands Anthem, and the Black national anthem. Also, there were performances by the Alfredo Andrews Elementary School, St. Mary’s School, Noah Ramnarine Cebedo, the Lew Muckle Elementary Quadrille Dancers, the CHS Carib Divas Dance Squad, words from the reigning Miss St. Croix 2024-2025 and other dignitaries.
