Keating takes part in ceremony

The slain civil rights leader was remembered in Oklahoma through parades, speeches, rallies and candlelight vigils.

In Tulsa, observances included a parade and a lecture by actor James Earl Jones.

In Oklahoma City, about 150 gathered near the Capitol after a silent march to ring a replica of the Freedom Bell.

Some carried signs urging Keating to "stop the killing" and calling for a moratorium on enforcing the death penalty.

But that was the only sign of the controversy that led some black leaders to suggest last week that Keating not take part in the ceremony.

Keating said he did not consider skipping the event, saying it was important for elected leaders to honor King's "main message"

of nonviolence and the worth of every individual, regardless of race.

He said anyone can adhere to that message while disagreeing on the death penalty.

In his remarks to the gathering, Keating spoke of his trip to Bosnia, where blown-up houses stand as a reminder of the violence between Muslims and Christians, and to Northern Ireland, where children are separated in school according to whether they are Catholic or Protestant.

He reminded the crowd that such divisions did exist in Oklahoma and the nation before leaders like King took action in the 1960s.

Sen. Angela Monson, D-Oklahoma City, said King's dream of equality will only stay alive if people "step out and exercise"

their beliefs.

Roosevelt Milton, NAACP president, was one of those who had criticized Keating over his death penalty stand and said he did not know what kind of reception the governor would have at the ceremony.

But on Monday, Milton did not mention the dispute. He recalled the long road to having an official remembrance of King in Oklahoma and said Martin Luther King Day is one "of atonement and reconciliation."

Tulsa's observance included a parade through the Greenwood Business District, the scene of a deadly race riot in 1921.

Jones was to give a lecture at the University of Tulsa Monday night.