BEDFORD – Clarence Brown and Lawrence County Veterans Affairs Officer Brad Bough asked permission to use the courthouse for the 35th annual Martin Luther King Jr. march on Sunday, January 15th.
The event will begin at the Lawrence County Courthouse at 2:00 p.m. January 15th which is also Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday.
The group will march around the square in Downtown Bedford where everyone will then travel to First Baptist Church at 1515 20th Street for the afternoon service.
Brown has worked in the community for more than 30 years and knows that now is not the time to stop doing what he loves most, bringing the community together.
“Our community has grown a lot since 1955 when I moved to Bedford,” said Brown. “I am now old enough and know what racism is. When I left to go to college in Tennessee I didn’t know about racism and prejudice. My mother told me to just go down there and love everyone. I did but faced things I had never faced before. Things happened that prompted me to come home to Bedford the greater town, city, and people. I appreciate this community.”
Brown says he will continue this tradition until the Good Lord takes him home.
“Then someone else will continue it,” he added. “The world has become so individualized that it forgets what the real goal is, coming together in love. That is what Martin Luther King Jr. stood for and that is what we will continue to do at this event.”
The march is set to represent bringing everyone together in love and respect for one another, and that is Brown’s biggest goal.
“I want all of Lawrence County to be at this event. Mitchell, Oolitic, Judah, Springville, Williams, I want them all to join us in love and remembrance of what this march represents. That is my goal because this is the cause that is going to last.”
