For the 44th year, thousands of citizens, UK students and faculty followed local civic leaders in an annual march through downtown Lexington Monday to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy.   

This year’s program following the march, hosted by UK and the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government along with nearly 50 organizations, was titled “Building a New Movement for a New Generation.”

“We are in and of Lexington and in and of the Commonwealth,” UK President Eli Capilouto said, who marched alongside Mayor Jim Gray, Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes and other local dignitaries. “This is a day of thoughtful reflection and for all of us to realize how far we’ve come and how far we need to go.”

Dr. King’s influence extended to all fields, including journalism.

“As a publisher of a newspaper, I would not be where I was today if it wasn’t for the sacrifices he made as a champion for equal justice for all,” Rufus Friday said, the Lexington Herald-Leader’s first African-American publisher as of 2011.

Participants, who said they were brought together with love in a world plagued with hate, joined the march. Groups included sororities and fraternities, the Bluegrass Community Technical College, the Lexington Human Rights Commission and other guests, such as Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear, walked along the streets downtown.

Attendees marched around Triangle Park and other historical downtown Lexington landmarks. Some held signs with inspirational messages of hope like “Black Lives Matter” and sang “We Shall Overcome.”

UK student Robert Buckingham, an international studies sophomore said he was marching “to continue the legacy of Dr. King.”

After the parade, the program inside Heritage Hall featured “Committed,” an a cappella group that won the second season of NBC’s “The Sing-Off.” They sang the “Black National Anthem,” “Song of Meditation” and “Let’s Stay Together.”

Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III, a senior pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago and co-creator of the “My Life Matters” social justice curriculum,was the event’s keynote speaker. He spoke about the importance of “creating a jazz of democracy.”

As he explained, a saxophone is part of a marching band and the piano is a part of the orchestra, but they work together and never try to compete to be better than one another.

“We are called on as a community to make the way for others as we stand on the shoulders of others and create a democracy of love and inclusion,” Moss said.

After the program, a resource fair for participants featured many organizations, including the Lexington Leadership Foundation, YMCA Black Achievers Program and the Lexington Police Department.