LIHUE — Katie Norman, an eighth-grade student at Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School, said she would be sad if she couldn’t wave her American flag Monday. “It feels good to hold the flag for Martin Luther King Jr.,” Norman said. “We
LIHUE — Katie Norman, an eighth-grade student at Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School, said she would be sad if she couldn’t wave her American flag Monday.
“It feels good to hold the flag for Martin Luther King Jr.,” Norman said. “We learned about him in school and I’m happy to do this because he pulled people together.”
Norman was one of more than three dozen people representing the Kauai Island Labor Alliance that hosted a Martin Luther King Jr. rally in Lihue.
“The other islands have parades honoring this man,” said Jolly Iwata, a Hawaii Government Employees Association member. “We on Kauai need to do something. When the Oahu people came to participate in the Lights on Rice parade, they were surprised and impressed with the amount of community support there is on Kauai. This does not happen in too many other places.”
Iwata said the walk and sign-holding was good because of the new sidewalks installed as part of the highway improvement project.
Kai Mottley, a sixth-grade CKMS student, said it was tiring to be out there.
“It’s hot,” Mottley said. “But it feels good because we learned about Martin Luther King in school and how he changed things in civil rights.”
His mother, Marie Williams, reminded him that when Martin Luther King organized marches, it was for hundreds of miles and lasted for days — he never complained about it being hot, or thirsty.
“This is good for everybody,” said Gerald Ako, HGEA Kauai Division Chief. “All these years, people forget about what he did. What he did is incredible because it was not for himself, but for the next generation. Dr. King led the way for many of the civil rights we take for granted.”
Ako said as part of the tribute, the group marched across the Lihue Mill Bridge on its way back to the HGEA office.
“This is symbolic because of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, when in 1965, marchers were beaten as they protested voting rights in America,” Ako said. “The march was led by Dr. King from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, Alabama, to solidify their efforts.”
Ako said he hopes the rally becomes an annual event.
“It’s incredible how much people take for granted,” Ako said. “We need to keep Dr. King’s legacy alive.”
