The St. Croix community gathered on Monday to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with a march and rally that highlighted his timeless messages. The day began with a march from the Sion Farm Commercial Center and culminated at the Island Center for the Performing Arts, where tributes, ceremonial conch shell blowing, and introductory remarks set the stage for the keynote address.

Dr. Chenzira Davis-Kahina, the keynote speaker, reflected on Dr. King’s 1964 sermon “A Knock at Midnight,” paraphrasing his prophetic words: “Paralyzing fears haunt people by day and by night, with deep clouds of anxiety and depression hanging in our mental skies. Today, people are more emotionally disturbed than at any other time in history.” Her address served as a reminder of Dr. King’s enduring relevance in addressing the challenges of today’s world."

Participants of the 2025 MLK march and rally gathered at the Island Center for the Performing Arts on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025 following the march that began at the Sion Farm Commercial Center. (Credit: V.I. Consortium)

Dr. King was saying this in 1963 explaining that we are dealing with a social order of chaos…Our mindsets are not where they are and need to be,” Ms. Davis-Kahina expounded. “As we look out into the international horizon, we see the nations of the world engaged in a colossal and a very bitter contest for supremacy, which might easily result in the annihilation of the whole human race,” the keynote speaker quoted from Dr. King again.

These sentiments, Ms. Davis-Kahina said, should sound familiar, as they have been expressed by some closer to home. “I want you young people to remember some of these names; Jay Antonio Jarvis. Hubert Harrison. Dr. Yosef Ben Jochannan. Eulalie Rivera.” These Virgin Islanders, Ms. Davis-Kahina reminded the crowd, “are some of the freedom fighters. Those are some of the persons that were involved in civil disobedience. It wasn't just turn the other cheek.”

Having thus highlighted the difference between peacefulness and passivity, Monday's keynote speaker threw the challenge out to all Virgin Islanders. “You're going to always hear me asking you, what did you do in alignment, in accord…like Dr. Martin Luther King?” Ms. Davis-Kahina asked. “What would Martin Luther King do with what's happening in St. Croix, what's happening in the Virgin Islands, what's happening throughout the community in America – the planet?” She reminded attendees that Dr. King was vocal about Palestine while he was alive.

According to Ms. Davis-Kahina, there is often too much of a focus on Dr. King's message of idealized racial harmony. “Don't just look at dreams,” she warned. Dr. King's legacy, she reminded, is based on standing up for justice as an integral part of peace.