FORT MYER, FLa. -- The praise and worship is so loud and impassioned inside A Full Gospel Church Outreach Center you can hear it from outside. Once inside you see the clapping hands, drums and voices, all marching to the days beat filled with the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Bishop Halsey Watkins, responsible for delivering the message, is born and raised in Fort Myers. He says Fort Myers has come a long way since the days of the Civil Rights Movement. "There was a time when we had white and colored water fountains, white and colored benches. We've come a long way from that now. Now we have mixed congregations."
While acknowledging the progress, Watkins says more work needs to be done. Specifically among Law Enforcement and the people they serve. "We need justice for all people. Communicating in our differences with each other we need to be able to come together, which they've began to do that and have some dialogue with the new Chief."
People of all color came together to sing along and also listen in to a young lady sing a song of her own, who embodies Kings dream of different races coming together. "She is mixed with Spanish. She's not just one race, she's biracial," said Tamara Thorton, when speaking about her daughter.
Her mother is insistent on making sure her daughter stands up for herself if shes ever given troubles for her ethnicity. "Be aware of it and you know not to let anyone tell her or judge her by the color of her skin and to know, its not right," Thorton said.
A message of one generations past, being taught to generations of the future.
