The continuous fight for unity and its progress were brought up to remind the community throughout an annual memorial for Martin Luther King Jr. held Monday night at the Christ Temple Global Ministries in Muncie.
Congressman Mike Pence and Muncie Mayor Dennis Tyler joined Ball State students and Muncie residents for the memorial. Both officials had a moment to address the residents.
Pence thanked the community for their work done to promote unity in Muncie.
"I tell you that if I happen to be employed in years ahead, that your contributions to my life in my understanding of the ongoing work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will be in the center of my heart and I thank you for that," he said.
Pence also reminded the audience about the importance of keeping King's memory to "strive for a more perfect union."
"Let's rededicate ourselves to that cause for which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. so selflessly advanced, ‘that all men were created equal," he said.
Tyler asked community to not only look at the bad news but also on the good news and the service that have been provided to the community by its residents. He gave as an example the 157 Delaware County students who received awards of service to the community, the Dr. Martin Luther King Youth Citizenship Award, on Saturday.
"We've got a lot of good things going on here," he said. "A lot of good things and a lot of good people."
Tyler also read the proclamation stating the celebration of Martin Luther King Day in Muncie.
Toward the end of the ceremony the Rev. B. LaMont Monford addressed the audience to remind them about the work of King.
"The one thing you have to understand is that often times we think that those who have done great things in our history, even such as Dr. Martin Luther King, started out being great," he said. "Great don't start out being great."
Monford asked the audience to not only celebrate the speeches and poetry of King, but to continue working for unity.
"A difference cannot be made if I don't place my life on the line," he said.
Some Ball State students were out throughout the day attending ceremonies and going community service. Alpha Phi Alpha member Jonathan Bryant said the fraternity attended other events throughout the day, including a breakfast opening ceremony at the L.A. Pittenger Student Center and a community march the sponsored by Multicultural Center in the afternoon.
"[The celebrations] are a good way to keep driving the message home talking about what he's done but still focusing on the work that there still is to do," he said. "I think that that's a very important part of the yearly celebrations that we have."
Bryant said it was also important to remember the opportunities there are to do service work in the community on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
"We always hear about the civil rights portion but there's not a lot that we hear of just the service and the humanity of Dr. King," he said.
But there is still much that needs to be worked on in the future in promoting unity, Bryant said.
"We have a more unified country now, but it's not as unified as it could be," he said. "Just politics in general and the atmosphere of our political saying shows how much work that we have still to do, there's way too much division."
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