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Bonner Springs was filled with celebration Monday as the 22nd annual Bonner Springs/Edwardsville Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration got under way.

“We are here to celebrate,” said Nina Kimbrough-Smith, who was the moderator for the event.

Throughout the event, audience members were on their feet, clapping and singing as music filled the sanctuary of the First Christian Church. From the NAACP 100 Year Choir to Singspiration Musicians, it was clear that audience members of Monday’s event were there to celebrate the life of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the service he brought to their country.

Smith told audience members the celebratory atmosphere was to remember the heroism of the civil rights leader for which the day was named. She said the country has come a long way since King marched toward equality asking all Americans to join him in his dream.

“We have to bring glory and honor to the one who brought us here,” she said.

The keynote speaker of the celebration was Javan Owens, a 1985 graduate of Bonner Springs High School and the chief of the Family Advocacy Program for the United States Army at Fort Lewis, Wash. Owens is also the son of the Rev. John and Gloria Owens, who spearheaded the Bonner Springs celebration 22 years ago. Owens’ speech revolved around the theme, “From Civil Rights to Civil Discourse – A new road map to community.”

Owens said there are now several generations who are living that were not part of the civil rights movement and cannot talk about the “glory days” of King’s time.

“We don’t know about sitting in the back of the bus,” he said.

Instead, what Owens said he knows now is a country where people are focused on themselves, and the lack of a sense of community has led to more and more rage and incivility. From the civil rights movement to a time of civil discourse, Owens said today there is more of a sense of alienation among people.

“The dream is no more than an illusion,” he said. “Contemporary America is not the same as when King (was here.)”

Owens proposed that the way to get into a community mindset, stop the incivility and further the dream started by King, is to start with the truth – that America is not perfect and that there is a long way to go until equality truly exists.

But to get there, Owens said, a community must be formed.

“Community must be not standing together against something, but rather standing together for something,” he said.

Owens said it was OK to recognize the difference among people — including the color of their skin. To say that one doesn’t see the color of their neighbor’s skin is a lie, Owens said.

When recognizing those differences, Owens said community can be formed by finding the similar characteristics among people.

“Community is not possible without unity,” he said.

In addition to Owens’ comments and the talk of the strides set forth by King, the event also looked toward current events when First Christian Church pastor Margi Colerick addressed the earthquake that took place Jan. 12 in Haiti.

Colerick asked that those in attendance who would like to help the people of Haiti donate to Week of Compassion, a disaster relief and humanitarian assistance program fund of the Christian Church. The group gathered $565 to go toward the cause.

Colerick said that if King were alive today, he would be pleased the people of Bonner Springs chose to honor him with their donation.

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