By Rupert Howell

On his holiday, over 650 marchers Monday joined others already assembled for a commemoration service at Batesville Intermediate School Auditorium climaxing a four-day weekend memorializing the African-American leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

As Dr. Frank E. Ray Sr. of New Salem M.B. Church of Memphis was telling the almost filled auditorium that all people were slaves, he stated, “You can be slaves to  satan or slaves to God. He made us. I like the master I have.”

Few in the auditorium were aware that just a few blocks away, some must have been slaves to another, as a shooting erupted sending at least one to the trauma center in Memphis with shots being heard from throughout the area.

Many in the group had just marched near the scene of the shooting. A number of clergy members and their congregants made up the large crowd. Ironically, they were not only escorted by Batesville’s police department, but also by the Panola County sheriff and chief deputy.

Monday’s celebration began with the traditional breakfast and prayer vigil followed by the Commemoration March which began at Mt. Zion M.B. Church on the corner of Hoskins Road and Panola Avenue, a church where King had spoken shortly before his death in April, 1968.

The march progressed southerly toward Batesville’s downtown square and then down College Street to the Intermediate  School Auditorium.

The event climaxed a long weekend of events including a basketball jamboree Friday at Batesville Junior High School, a Saturday Black business expo at Patton Lane Community Center and a musical Sunday in Sardis at Sardis District Baptist Educational Building.