On MLK Blvd., local residents hail his legacy.

Byline: Joe Mosley The Register-Guard

Eugene came together Monday on the street that nearly tore it apart a year ago, as close to 500 people marched down newly renamed Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and across the Ferry Street Bridge for a morning rally honoring the slain civil rights leader.

"It's a reaffirmation of the work and so forth that we did, and a continuous reminder that we have not overcome," longtime black activist Ed Coleman said as marchers around him sang the civil rights standard, "We Shall Overcome."

Renaming the street from Centennial Boulevard spiraled into political ugliness last year as the City Council reversed itself twice and ignored a recommendation of the city Planning Commission before bowing to pressure from supporters of the name change.

But the botched process may have actually contributed to the success of Monday's march and rally, as civil rights supporters of all colors and sizes unspooled like a jubilant ribbon along the sidewalk from the John Serbu Youth Campus to Alton Baker Park and across the Ferry Street Bridge.

Placards reading "Thank you Martin" and "Live the Dream" and "Measure 30: What Would Dr. King Do?" dotted the crowd, as marchers laughed and reminisced and sang one ballad after another.

The march - held in past years from Martin Luther King Jr. Park in west Eugene to the Eugene Fire Department's training center - was the first of a full day of local celebrations on a national holiday that celebrates not only King but the country's civil rights movement.

Springfield Middle School hosted an afternoon celebration that included student art, poetry and essay contests, and an evening event at the Hult Center included a keynote speech by author Ralph Wiley and recognition of Eugene students whose MLK poems were read at the morning rally.

The marching crowd was dotted with mothers and children, teachers and merchants, tradespeople and professionals. At least four Eugene city councilors and three Lane County commissioners were sprinkled into the mix.

"We just felt it was so much more significant to move it to his street this year," said Marilyn Mays, president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which sponsored the march.

"That's why people are so much more excited this year. We got a lot of calls about it. And I think the tradition is really setting in."

At Eugene Water & Electric Board headquarters, the crowd squeezed into the utility's double conference room, with several dozen listening from the walkway outside as the refrain to "We Shall Overcome" began to die out and then Coleman stood and shouted:

"Let's all stand up and sing it again, like we mean it!"

Which the willing crowd did, warming itself to some brief remarks from Mays and then a speech from the Rev. Carl Stubbs Jr., who is also a Eugene police officer.

Stubbs kept the crowd fired up, recalling King's life and his struggles, and the challenge that was left for those who survived him.

"Dr. King left America a better place than it was before he was born," Stubbs said. "What is it you can do to make your community a better place?

"I encourage you to reach farther than you have. And be better than you are."

The rally wrapped up with winners of the Eugene schools' poetry contests reading their entries - from the Spanish-to-English translation of a piece by middle-schooler Jose Chavez, who has been in Eugene only a week, to a stirring poem by North Eugene High School student Alyssa Cagle that brought the crowd to its feet.

"Why can't our people continue his dream?" Cagle asked. "Why has our passion run out of steam?"

`We've Forgotten the Dream'

by Alyssa Cagle,

North Eugene High School student

He spoke of love, justice and rights,

But we've forgotten his valiant fight.

We've forgotten the lesson he died to teach,

And forgotten the lesson he tried to preach.

Who now remembers what his dream was about?

Who can say beyond shadow of a doubt?

If we cannot now, with all of our hearts,

Continue the dream he did passionately start,

Then we don't deserve

His words to preserve.

His dream was equality, everyone's fair share,

But now that he's over, no one really cares.

We have holidays in his honor, a day off from work,

And still in our hearts does hate ever lurk.

If MLK were here, he'd cringe and he'd say,

"I never told you to live this way!"

Why can't our people continue his dream?

Why has our passion run out of steam?

Our hearts are hardened, I wish they would melt.

I wish all of us could feel what he felt.

What better way to honor him, on his day of celebration,

Than to show each other love and appreciation?

Instead of saying, "Sure, he was great!"

Let's take a few moments to meditate.

To learn what we can from this wistful man,

And fulfill the vision he carefully planned.

If we cannot continue the dream that he dreamed,

Then we silence his words, we silence his screams.

I'm sick of his street names, things that mean nothing,

It seems to me that the world is just bluffing.

Let's put our hearts in the place they belong,

And skip all the parades, skip all his songs.

He was just one man; there are more of us now,

I wish we could follow him somehow.

Please don't let his day go to waste and his love fade away,

But rather give it a place in your heart to stay.

One day's not enough to celebrate what he found,

So I say we celebrate it all year round.

CAPTION(S):

The crowd responds after students read their poems about Martin Luther King Jr. during an event at EWEB on Monday. Thomas Boyd / The Register-Guard Marchers make their way down Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard on Monday in honor of the slain civil rights leader.