MLK Day an attraction for city

By Staff
People from all over northwest Alabama will be in Russellville Monday for the annual Martin Luther King, Jr., memorial celebration.
King, who was assassinated in 1968, was one of hundreds of people who gave their lives during the turbulent civil rights struggle of the 1960s. Though King is the only one with an official holiday named on his behalf, it is important to remember all of those, both black and white, who died for the cause they believed in.
It is because of all those civil rights workers of that era that our schools are now filled with children of all colors sitting side by side.
Most of those children do not even realize that wasn't possible at one point in time.
Many will argue that our nation still has a significant gap in equality, but things are light years ahead of where we were 40 or 50 years ago. So as celebrations take place Monday to honor King and his role in the civil rights movement, it is important not to forget all the others whose sacrifices, though much less known, were equally important.