New London – In his impassioned plea to a multiracial crowd listening to his Martin Luther King Jr. Day sermon, the Rev. Wade Hyslop referenced “dark days ahead,” a thinly veiled reference to the upcoming inauguration of Donald Trump.

His overall message, however, was ultimately one of optimism.

“I believe through it all if we trust in God everything is going to be all right,” Hyslop said during the sermon at the Shiloh Baptist Church on Garvin Street.

President-elect Trump’s upcoming presidency was a common theme during Monday’s local celebration of the life of the civil rights leader. Both religious and political leaders expressed a fear of Trump’s nominees for Cabinet posts and the expected repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney said the anxiety level among his constituents was “palpable,” and referenced a weekend rally in Hartford to fight the “reckless push towards rolling back protections that President Obama created in the health care system.”

“A lot of people are questioning where we are going as a country,” the 2nd District Democrat said.

King’s legacy has also reverberated in the halls of Congress, where Courtney said a letter from Coretta Scott King surfaced in opposition to the appointment of Jeff Sessions as attorney general.

The letter was written by King’s late widow in 1986 in opposition to Sessions’ appointment as a federal judge and accused him of using racial slurs and his position as a U.S. attorney to target civil rights activists in Alabama, according to published reports.

Jerry Fischer, the executive director of the Jewish Federation of Eastern Connecticut, said many Jews were upset with the outcome of the election, but said the appointment of Steve Bannon as counsel to the president was a "kick in our stomach that was far worse than the election itself." Bannon was the chairman of Breitbart News, a website that many claim has given publicity to anti-Semitic ideologies.

Referencing surrounding towns that voted for Trump, Fischer said New London needed to be a “light for southeastern Connecticut.”

Others said Trump’s presidency has helped sound a rally cry for unity.

“Now is not the time to rest on our laurels,” said the Rev. Marcus Luter of Beulah Land Church of God in Christ, who is the president of the Southeastern Connecticut Ministerial Alliance.

Luter helped kick off Monday’s event with a gathering of about 200 people at City Hall. The civil rights anthem “We Shall Overcome” echoed through the downtown streets as the group wound its way to Shiloh Baptist Church.

The one pause along the way was at the front entrance to the courthouse on Huntington Street, an annual stop to recognize what Luter said was supposed to be the “symbol of justice, and a refuge for people who have been wronged.”

Hyslop said while things have changed for the better, “somebody’s still trying to kill the dream.”

“Our civil rights are being attacked, and I’m not just talking about people of color. I’m talking about people that are different than you,” he said.

Hyslop’s sermon morphed into a stirring recitation of a portion of King’s famous “I Have Dream” speech, delivered Aug. 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character,” Hyslop said, reading King’s words.

Hyslop said some in the latest generation need to study history to fully appreciate King’s legacy of “civil rights equality, justice, nonviolence, education, compassion and societal change.”

“It is because of Dr. King’s life and legacy that we can ride anywhere on the bus, instead of the back of the bus, live in any part of town that our money can afford …,” Hyslop said. “Walk the streets at night and not be disturbed by people who question our color, our heritage, our clothing, our God and our right to claim this country as ours.”

g.smith@theday.com