In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, The Dona Ana County Branch of the NAACP held a breakfast to remember the struggles of the past and honor the leaders of tomorrow.
Politicians, local leaders, and community members gathered at Hotel Encanto for the 8th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day breakfast. President of the NAACP’s Dona Ana County Branch Curtis Rosemond says he hopes the breakfast will continue to grow in the future.
“It’s very important that we continue the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” Rosemond said. “For the fact that our kids don’t understand what he did, what he accomplished in his life. So we still have his dream today, and if we don’t continue reminding people of that, we’ll lose that focus of our leadership.”
Rosemond said the theme of this year’s breakfast was a play on the Black Live Matter movement.
“Well this year’s them is our votes, our schools, our lives, our children, they all matter,” Rosemond said. “Not just for blacks but for all Americans.”
The focus of the breakfast was largely on education with 6 high school students winning prizes for essay and poetry contests, and a keynote speech from the Dean of NMSU’s College of Education. Rosemond said its important children learn the legacy of Dr. King.
“We need to make sure that our children understand the struggles we went through,” Rosemond said. “As young adults back in the 50s, the 60s, the 70s, and even the 80s. So that’s why it’s so important, that why I put the emphasis on our children’s education on the past, and continuing the education of Dr. Martin Luther King, and the struggles we had not only as African Americans, but also as Americans.”
Rosemond says there is still work to be done for equality across America.
“The state of America right now I feel is in turmoil,” Rosemond said. “We still have a lot of work to do. We still have work to do with our voting rights, with our black lives matter rights, we still have a lot to do and we haven’t accomplished that yet. But I feel like we’re getting there, we will get there as a country.”
Rosemond says while the State of America is in turmoil, unity is strong in Southern New Mexico.
“I think we are fortunate,” Rosemond said. “We live in a wonderful community, where people in this community are united, work together as one, and I think in our society where we live in our city, it’s amazing how everybody comes together as one.”
Rosemond said this years breakfast was the largest with just over 250 people in attendance.
