New York City students honor Martin Luther King Jr. holiday with march
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WABC) -- On the day when the nation pauses to remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., New York City is honoring his message in its own way, with the hopes of making it relevant to a new generation.
Students marched on the Upper West Side, and while it may not be the march on Washington, it's a march with meaning for those who participated.
Students, parents and faculty members of the Manhattan Country School took to the streets to honor King, and long the way, there were speeches about discrimination in all forms.
Ajani Nazario addressed the objectification of black women.
"I felt really powerful," Nazario said. "I felt like my voice was being heard. I was excited to be speaking in front of all of these people. There was a lot of practice and preparation that went into this day, and I'm just really proud of myself."
As is her mother.
"It's a subject that she has been very interested in since she was 10 and when received her first cat call as a 10-year-old," Lisa Edwards Nazario said. "And it's a place that allows her to speak freely about issues like this."
The marchers made their way from the Upper West Side through Harlem before heading to the Upper East Side.
"This march is so important because it really embodies the values and the philosophy of the school," parent Angela Walker Campbell said. "So we don't just talk the talk. We are truly walking the walk today with this march."
The school started celebrating Martin Luther King day 28 years ago with an event inside the building. But the students wanted their voices heard, so they took to the streets, and they've been doing so ever since.
"The kids were saying the civil rights movement was a youth-led movement, and we're young people," head of school Michele Sola said. "We want to say what we want to say."
