PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Community leaders and elected officials marched in solidarity through parts of North Philadelphia on Monday to commemorate the 54th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“As we remember today as the day Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated, we should also remember what he lived for,” said Catherine Hicks, the president of the Philadelphia NAACP.
She joined other leaders who took part in a silent march and ceremony to make a recommitment to education justice, saying that a big part of what Dr. King lived for was education.
“Dr. King fought for equality for all, and he understood that education was a big part of ensuring equality for all,” said Hicks. She and others pledged to do what they can to get education resources to the School District of Philadelphia and others like it across the state.
“It has been written that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. knew that great education lays the foundation of a great society,” she added.
State Sen. Vincent Hughes (D-Philadelphia and Montgomery County) spearheaded the ceremony and silent march.
He said he’s working with colleagues to make sure Philadelphia and school districts like it get the money they need to properly function, saying that the children that need the most are getting the least.
“We have an opportunity to solve this problem,” said Hughes. “It is in front of us right now. We have $2.8 billion in the state’s rainy day fund, and we have a projected budget surplus to be over $7 billion.”
The silent march went from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Recreation Center to Frederick Douglass Mastery Charter School, where officials gave learning packets to students.
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Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court is expected to make a ruling later this year on a lawsuit about school funding in the state, after a trial including 41 witnesses and about 14,000 pages of testimony. The suit claims that districts are not receiving the school funding that they need.
Though outgoing Philadelphia schools superintendent William Hite testified during the trial, the School District of Philadelphia is not directly involved in the lawsuit.
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