Nashville's black community leaders are teaming up with city officials, Midstate leaders and cultural organizations to plan what they hope will be the biggest Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in the country — and to beat Atlanta.
Last January's parade received national news coverage from CBS in New York City, said Bishop George Price, the event's lead organizer.
"We are the second-largest behind Atlanta," he said the network told him. "It is my vision this year to surpass Atlanta."
I'm not sure what I think about this competition-with-Atlanta meme that's taken hold lately. I'm all for Nashville trying to up participation in MLK Day, which is truly incredible (I've marched in the parade for the past few years), but I'm not sure we need to be trying to one-up the man's birthplace.
I might actually go to Atlanta for the 2009 event, to celebrate the Dr.'s 80th birthday...
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A girl with fingernails that shine like justice
Nashville figures prominently in the history of the Civil Rights movement. I think Nashville should embrace its role in the history of civil rights.
MLK referred to Nashville civil rights leader James Lawson as the world's foremost mind in nonviolence.
Wander down to The Arcade sometime, and you're at the epicenter of what became the lunch counter sit-ins.
NAACP founder WEB DuBois was a professor at Fisk University.
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I don't know the meaning of the word "surrender!" I mean, I know it, I'm not dumb. Just not in this context.
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