The Navy Remembers MLK Jr.

It's hard to speak to a diffuse group. But that's not why Steffanie B. Easter urged the crowd to come forward Thursday at theater.

On a day when, in addition to remembering the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., images of Rosa Parks were flashed on the theater's big screen, letting people idle in the back would not do.

“I don't know why you chose to sit back there but I think that Dr. King did a lot so that none of us have to sit in the back, so I'm going to ask you to come forth,” said the Navy's civilian executive adviser for personnel.

They did, to hear Easter, the ceremony's keynote speaker, use King's “American Dream” speech from 1964 as a springboard for a discussion about brotherhood and forming partnerships. She also linked Dr. King's work to the Navy's mission.

The base's annual celebration of Dr. King, hosted by Fleet Readiness Center Southwest, kicked off with a short march around the base chapel to the theater, a nod to the famous marches he led for civil rights. The crowd, numbering in the hundreds, sang “We Shall Overcome” on the way.

Dr. King died in 1968 at an assassin's hands. A federal holiday commemorating his Jan. 15 birth has been celebrated since 1986.

Capt. John Smajdek, commanding officer of the readiness center, ticked off a list of ways to honor Dr. King, from cherishing freedoms to actively participating in democracy.

He also noted that sailors can support the “non-violent struggle for justice at home and the efforts of our war fighters, our brothers and sisters who are overseas right now defending freedom and the democratic way.”