AUBURN - Almost 41 years after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, nearly 100 Cayuga County residents gathered at The Apostolic Church of the Lord Jesus Christ in Auburn on Sunday to remember his dream.

With all of the events going on in the world, Pastor Timothy Agee Sr., the keynote speaker for the Annual Dr. Martin Luther Kind Jr. Celebration, said it was easy for people to either become complacent and not recognize the racism that still exists or to forget King's dream of equality all together.

“We have to learn to dream again. I think with the terrible things going on in the world, people have forgotten the dream,” Agee said. “They have lost hope in the government and the economy and we have to help them to remember to dream again.”

During a powerful reading of the “I Have a Dream” speech, Daysha Joe, a student at Cayuga Community College, brought the crowd of all ages and races to a standing ovation as she spoke King's famous words.

After she finished the reading, Joe said she believed the event was an important chance for the community to come together and learn from America's history.

“In general it reminded the community where we come from and that we started from scratch,” Joe said. “It was a wake-up call to not take life for granted.”

With so much stress in the world and with Barack Obama elected as the first black president of the United States, Agee said it was important for people to still remember the accomplishments of Rosa Parks and King in order to ensure the nation continues to pursue King's dream.

“Martin never said ‘I had a dream,' he said ‘I have a dream,'” Agee said. “If you use the word had, it puts the dream in the past tense and takes away the true purpose of the dream. When this happens, a dream becomes vain, it becomes crippled. (His dream) needs to be revitalized.”

Because he never saw his dream become reality, it became King's gift to society, Agee said. But no one ever bothered to pick up the dream and finish King's work.

By failing to pick up the dream, Agee said he believed society was allowing racism to continue and that the black community was being pushed toward the back of the bus again.

“There is nothing good (at the back of the bus), there is nothing progressive back there,” Agee said.

“In the back there is nothing but doom, destruction and sickness. Put down the drugs, put down the alcohol and stop killing each other. These people did not suffer and die so you can give up your seat and retire to the back ... And if you go back there, you are dragging our white brothers and sisters back with us.”

After listening to the audience sing “We Shall Overcome,” Agee said he believed King would have been overwhelmed by the racial harmony that was present in church as people of all races stood side-by-side.

Agee also said King would have been happy to see white politicians such as Auburn Mayor Michael Quill speaking out in support of his dream.

Only by coming together as a multi-racial society can America accomplish true equality and bring King's dream to fruition, Agee said.

Mary McClain, of Alabama, said she enjoyed listening to Agee's sermon as he attempted to inspire people to act as one and make King's vision a reality.

“I think that whatever we do, we should do it together as brothers and sisters under the Lord,” McClain said. “It was really nice to see all these people together because if we do anything, we are suppose to do it together.”

Staff writer Nate Robson can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or nathan.robson@lee.net