KALISOELL — Students and community members gathered at Flathead High School on Monday for performances and speeches in honor of Martin Luther King Day.
Among those performers is the Crown of the Continent Choir, which is conducted by Craig Naylor who has seen the impacts of Dr. King’s message since he was a kid.
“I remember when I was 9 years old, my birthday is August 28th and that's when he gave the I Have a Dream speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial,” Naylor said. “I remember watching that on television.”
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Flathead High School students did extensive research on Martin Luther King, Jr., introduced performers and presented them with an oral history of Dr. King’s Legacy.
One of the emcees of the event, Kaite Miltich said she learned the true impact of his movement during this research.
“Everyone's learned the basic things like the I Have a Dream speech, but I think it's been really cool to learn about how there's so much more to him than that,” Miltich said.
“His movement wasn't just around his home it was around the entire world he wanted to create that peace and that harmony that he wanted in his hometown and throughout the US around the world because he just wanted to spread that peace and love," Miltich continued.
Above all else, the presenter's and performer’s goal is to send the audience home inspired and hopeful about Dr. King’s message.
Craig Naylor reflected on what hearing Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech as a kid meant for the rest of his life.
“The idea that it doesn't matter the color of your skin but what's inside your heart all of those resonated for me then have throughout my life and still do,” Naylor said. “I'm just delighted that here in Kalispell we're doing a program that uplifts those messages.”
