As they celebrated the birthday of the Dr. Martin Luther King Monday, people marched and sang in the gloomy weather as they made their way from New London City Hall to Shiloh New London Church where they were greeted with a jubilant chorus singing and clapping to “We Shall Overcome.”

And in Norwich Monday afternoon, more than 70 people gathered outside City Hall for brief remarks by city, state and federal lawmakers and NAACP leaders before marching through downtown streets to the Evans Memorial AME Zion Church.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal recognized the many young people in the crowd outside Norwich City Hall.

“Your presence sends a message,” Blumenthal said. “It’s a powerful message. Because this holiday is not a day off. It’s a day on, it’s a day on for social justice, for the fight that Martin Luther King embodied in his personality and his great mission.”

Members of the Norwich NAACP Robertsine Duncan Youth Council led the gathering in singing, “We Shall Overcome,” as police escorted the groups through downtown. Occasionally, passersby on the sidewalks on Franklin Street joined in the song.

At Shiloh in New London, people took to the pews and joined in clapping and singing along to the gospel song about overcoming racial injustice. The song served as an anthem for the civil rights movement in the 1960s. On the big screen in front of them in big letters with a photo was King.

Interrupted for three years by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Southeastern Connecticut Ministerial Alliance and Shiloh church returned Monday to having an in-person annual march and service.

Rev. Michael Cagle, president of the ministerial alliance, said this was a day to be excited about. He said if wasn’t for King, they wouldn’t be where they are today.

“To God be the glory,” Cagle said.

Local and state politicians provided words of reflection after Cagle read scripture from Chapter 3 of Colossians, verses 11-14, in the King James Version bible. Those who spoke were Mayor Michael Passero, State Rep. Anthony Nolan and U.S. Congressman Joe Courtney.

Passero said the holiday was more than a day off to memorialize a great American; it is the only federal holiday that also serves as a day of service. Quoting Dr. King, he said, “Everybody can be great because anybody can serve... You only need a heart full of grace.”

Passero pointed out that the day Dr. King died he was in Memphis to support a sanitation workers' strike.

State Rep. Anthony Nolan said it’s not always easy to be a leader in the community especially on this day and being a Black man. Nolan asked the community to hold him and other elected officials accountable and to take part in local government.

“I need you to come out and tell us,” he said. “We have to be accountable for the the lack of housing, injustice on the street, in prison, courthouse and schools.”

Asking for the community’s help and support, Connie Fields, the president of the Lawrence + Memorial Healthcare Workers union, said there is an injustice in affordable healthcare and livable wages among healthcare staff. She said for it to be one of the largest hospital organizations in the state yet workers live in low-to-moderate income housing is unacceptable.

Fields said the union is made up of 907 workers and about 57% of them have healthcare benefits.

Elder Mark Ballew of Mount Moriah F.B.H. Church in New London preached passionately about how marches for racial justice today are in the same tone as Dr. King but slightly differ.

Ballew said Dr. King did things strategically and marched with a focus on more than changing laws and policies; he understood there needed to be a change of hearts. He said to truly get politicians and those in power to do what is right, people have to incorporate the church.

“Have some church on it,” he said.

Ballew then quoted Dr. King saying, “I’ve been to the mountaintop… Like anybody, I would like to live a long life... But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain... And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land.”

Brendia Merchant took part in the New London march and service carrying a photo of Dr. King.

Merchant said she fondly remembers the civil rights activist because, “He was the one that spoke to us and let us know there was going to be a change, and I believe him.”

Decades after Dr. King’s death, racial injustices continue to persist but Merchant said she feels the change coming.

At Evans Memorial AME Zion Church in Norwich, keynote speaker the Rev. Paul Doyle, pastor of the Park Congregational Church in Norwich, said he was excited to see the theme for the Norwich Martin Luther King birthday celebrations Friday and Monday ― “Champion Justice! Champion Peace! Champion Righteousness,” taken from a sermon King gave in 1968.

“I like that word, champion,” Doyle said. “I like it as a noun, but I like it better even as a verb. I’m a verb kind of guy, because it’s not about what one is. It is about what one does, and is willing to do. Action.”

Norwich NAACP President Anthony Holland reminded the audience how slow the progress of social justice can be. He noted that King was assassinated in 1968. It wasn’t until 18 years later that King’s birthday was declared a holiday.

“It took an additional 17 years for all 50 states to recognize today as the momentous day that it is,” Holland sald.