JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The reuniting of a city that hasn’t happened in half a decade will take place Friday in Jacksonville.
The life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. will be celebrated in Jacksonville with one event instead of two competing ones. For the first time in five years, the city of Jacksonville alongside groups like the local NAACP, are reuniting for one MLK Day breakfast.
Years ago, when the city and organizations split the breakfast into two, “the current absence of respectful discourse around civil rights, economic rights, human rights,” was cited by civil rights groups.
Mayor Donna Deegan says the city is closing that chapter on two competing breakfasts. President of the Jacksonville NAACP Isaiah Rumlin says what happens in the city after the breakfast, is what's most important.
"Some of those issues that we are fighting today, are some of the same issues and policies that Dr. King died for," Rumlin told First Coast News.
Rumlin believes people need to attend city council meetings and call their city council representatives.
"What happens after we leave the breakfast?" said Rumlin. "We go down there, we shake hands, we go back to business as usual. That's got to stop."
This year's breakfast is the same morning the Dollar General in New Town, where three Black people were killed in a racially motivated shooting, reopens. When Deegan announced the reuniting of the breakfast in December, she noted the recent hate in the community makes inclusive events like this even more significant.
The MLK Day breakfast begins at 7 a.m. at the Prime F. Osborn Convention Center. Learn about volunteer opportunities for MLK Day here.