Wagoner Residents Honor MLK's Legacy With Parade

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was remembered across Oklahoma Monday.

His dream of equality for all was honored in some of our big and small towns.

This is the third year the city of Wagoner has hosted a Martin Luther King Day parade. Organizers and participants say they're all about getting out his message of equality.

Dozens of Wagoner residents gathered in the crisp winter air to pay tribute to an iconic American, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Just to show that we can all work together and be equal," said Wagoner resident Sarah Miller.

The third annual MLK Day parade in Wagoner featured people of all ages, motorcycles, and our own Ashlei King as Grand Marshal.

Organizer Larry Abernathy said Dr. King's dream is very important to the people of Wagoner.

"Everybody's equal here. Everybody here is family. If you lived here you'd be my brother," Abernathy said.

1/21/2013 Related Story: Tulsa Martin Luther King Parade Honors Civil Rights Leader

Montouya Moore brought her son as well as two nieces to the parade.
Reporter Dan Bewley: "Why is it important for you to be here?"

Montouya Moore: "It's for our freedom. He had a dream and now we live in it."

As the parade rolled down Main Street, organizers and participants say gathering as Americans, not as separate races, should be the goal.

Monty Thompson is Superintendent of Wagoner Schools.

"What I have embraced is the fact that color means nothing; education is what will take everyone to the next level. There's not a racial barrier in education," Thompson said.

Sky News 6 captured the parade from the sky, a mix of races marching as one, fulfilling a dream that's nearly five decades in the making.

"Everybody walks hand-in-hand and everybody's just good to each other," Abernathy said. "We might not even know you, but when you come to Wagoner we're going to say hello and meet you and greet you and make you friend."

Abernathy said the success of the parade is something he's very proud of and they plan to keep doing it each and every year.