INDIANAPOLIS — Tuesday marks 55 years since the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Faith and community leaders held an event marking the tragedy at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park at 17th and Broadway streets on the near north side of Indianapolis Tuesday evening.
The theme for the event was "Still we reach, breaking new ground."
Sen. Robert Kennedy was in Indianapolis the night King was killed and spoke to a crowd after learning of the assassination.
"When other communities erupted, this community stayed somewhat calm and came together to figure out where do we go from here as a community," Rep. Gregory Porter said Tuesday night.
Dr. Thomas Brown said he met King when he was a teenager when the civil rights leader would visit his father. We asked him what King would have to say about the state of Indianapolis today.
"He would say, 'Keep on keeping on,'" Brown said. "But he would emphasize something that we've lost in our community experience - the reality and power of non-violence - and learning how to be nonviolent. That is a curriculum nobody wants to touch."
Brown attended the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance Breakfast Tuesday morning. He told 13News it was an opportunity for various leaders in the religious community to discuss their approaches to uniting the Black experience through church and community.
The Kennedy King Memorial Initiative also recognized two organizations - Indiana Humanities and the Indianapolis Colts for their dedication to creating a more just and equitable society.