NEW ORLEANS (AP) – An Alexandria minister said work is needed to keep Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream from becoming a nightmare. In New Orleans, hundreds marched and Mayor Mitch Landrieu made a plea for unity. Hundreds of volunteers painted Interstate 10 pillars in Baton Rouge and parades rolled in Kenner, LaPlace, Lake Charles, Houma and other cities.
Here's how the holiday was marked around Louisiana:
NEW ORLEANS
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu urged people to embrace community over division, saying the deaths of black men in Ferguson, MO, New York City and elsewhere and those of two New York police officers killed in apparent retaliation for those deaths all stem from the same source.
"From the riots in Ferguson, to the shootings of police officers and the daily death and destruction on our streets, make no mistake — it is all part of the same whole poisonous fruit harvested from the same tree of hatred, of violence, of division, of economic injustice," Landrieu told a crowd in front of City Hall on Monday.
He said the nation won't have peace "until we as a community choose community over chaos, until we weep and all march for every life lost, until we break down the barriers between the police and the community, until we speak for each other's right and strive to fulfill that great promise of America," The New Orleans Advocate reported.
Celebrations and ceremonies in the New Orleans area included marches in New Orleans and Lafourche Parish, parades in Kenner, LaPlace, Edgard, a book drive in Hahnville and an event at the Louisiana Children's Museum where children could watch King's "I Have a Dream" speech and make a statue of him.
Scores of people listened to Landrieu's speech, and hundreds marched to King's statue at the intersection of North Claiborne Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, WVUE-TV reported.
BATON ROUGE
In Baton Rouge, hundreds of volunteers of all ages gathered under a new elevated section of Interstate 10 to paint the pillars. They wanted to perform a service to honor King, whose life was given in service to civil rights.
"He did so much service to help us be equal today and be free and how we are and live the way we do, so it's great to think about him whenever you're helping out," University High School student Benjamin Vincent told WAFB-TV.
Other service projects in Louisiana's capital included cleaning up and restoring the outer walls of historic Magnolia Cemetery.
Hundreds of others gathered at Mt. Zion First Baptist Church, where King once spoke, for an annual program followed by a march to the Martin Luther King Memorial.
"You come together marching for a common cause, marching to the beat of one step,” local NAACP president Mike McClanahan told WBRZ-TV. "Man, it gives you a straightening in your back, puts a smile on your face, but more importantly it puts something in your soul that lasts longer than a day."
In suburban Walker, a march was followed by a program to honor King at the Outreach Civic Center.
Johnnie Jones, who became the attorney for the Baton Rouge bus boycott of 1953, just two weeks after graduating from Southern University's law school, said he sees change all around him, but there's still a lot of work to do.
"Sure, it's going to take a while," Jones said. "You just need to be willing to take a stand."
ALEXANDRIA
"A lot of folk are satisfied to let the dream of King become a nightmare by doing nothing," The Rev. Solomon Shorter Sr. told several dozen people at the annual wreath-laying at King's memorial under the Interstate 49 overpass at Murray Street.
"The dream is becoming a nightmare unless we pledge to do something to keep it alive, unless we get engaged young folk and in the process of the political arena," he said.
Chairs were set up in the street, which was blocked off by police cruisers, The Town Talk reported.
The Blessed Gospel Group sang "We Are The World" and then led those in attendance in singing a rousing version of "We Shall Overcome."
Shorter recalled his youth, when the start of school for black students was delayed so they could pick cotton and the city's swimming pool was reserved for whites.
But, he noted, "many decent, Caucasian, white folk" were civil rights activists.
Other events Monday included a prayer breakfast and parade, both sponsored by the City-Wide Interdenominational Crusade, and a celebration in the Riverfront Center.
LAKE CHARLES
The Martin Luther King Memorial Breakfast in Lake Charles was held Friday in Trinity Baptist church, with Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Bernette Johnson as keynote speaker.
"Dr. King gave his life for more than just a message," Huber "Mickey" Smith, holding a saxophone, told the crowd. "He sacrificed so he could create a legacy of love and faith and hope. And as the good book says, the greatest of these is love."
He then played Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You," which was met with a standing ovation, the American Press reported.
Johnson encouraged the crowd to see the movie "Selma," based on the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights marches led by Martin Luther King Jr.
"It helps young people understand why voting is important," Johnson said. "We have young people that are clueless as to why they should vote. Blood, sweat and tears is what that right cost."
A parade was scheduled Sunday.
THIBODAUX
This year's march in Thibodaux is dedicated to "the families of unarmed youths and adults local and abroad that have been killed by law enforcement" and the families "who have lost loved ones to black-on-black crimes that have plagued our communities," Lafourche Parish NAACP President Burnell Tolbert told The Daily Comet.
Napoleonville Alderman Renard Southall said, "We need to substitute peace in the place of violence."
The NAACP branch organized the march from Martin Luther King Park to St. Luke Community Center, where a ceremony followed. There also was a march in Houma.
