Events in Washington Monday honored President Obama’s inauguration, and the Martin Luther King Day holiday.
The two events also meshed at Detroit’s Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, where a few dozen people came to the Wright Museum to watch a live broadcast of President Obama’s second inauguration.
Among them were Marilyn Finkelman and her family. Finkelman said the museum felt like “the right place to be” for the occasion, “to recognize Dr. Martin Luther King, and the wonderful blessings that
he brought to this country; and to see their fruition in the inauguration of President Obama.”
The crowd seemed surprised—but pleased—that Detroit got a mention in the President’s speech.
The President drew cheers when he said: "Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia, to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for and cherished and always safe from harm.
Mark Knight, another Detroiter who came to the Wright Museum to watch the inaugural, thought that was significant.
Knight said the sentiment echoed the President’s broader themes of equality, and sympathy for what Knight called “the least among us.”
“It would make sense that you would call attention to those that need the most help," Knight said. "And it actually kind of drives us to what some of our purpose should be—to help those who need the most help.
"And you actually, I think, help everyone. That’s the American way.”
The Wright Museum also celebrated the King holiday with music from the civil rights era, a literacy workshop, and other events.
