BALTIMORE — The traditional Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade in Baltimore was yet another casualty of the pandemic for the last two years, but when organizers announced last week that it would not have one again this year, politicians and the people they represent were outraged.
“You would think anyone with any type of compassion, what they would do is at least allow us to celebrate someone who was at the front of the march, who the march signifies, why can’t we celebrate something like that?” asked Lloyd Murphy of Northwest Baltimore.
“What else do we have to look forward to?” added Edward Madden of Southeast Baltimore. “Look at all the teens. We don’t have any rec rooms for them to go play at, and the squeegee kids---look at them. They’re practically giving them money and the parade, that gave them something to look forward to.”
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After calling for the firing of CEO Donna Drew Sawyer of the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts or ‘BOPA’, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott announced on social media over the weekend that the parade will happen, starting at noon on Monday, January 16.
There will be a MLK Day parade noon on January 16th kicking off at the normal starting point. My focus during the parade will be very simple! #wemuststopkillingeachother
— Brandon M. Scott (@MayorBMScott) January 9, 2023
For its part, BOPA tells WMAR-2 News that the city will organize the event, and it won’t play any role.
The last time the city celebrated Dr. King with a parade was back in 2020, and the Office of Promotion and the Arts began requesting applications in October and finished taking them in December.
While the city has remained silent about how it will pull this off in a week’s time, Councilman Eric Costello took to social media on Monday thanking groups who are helping with security at the event.
Costello also showed his appreciation for the mayor’s decision to make it happen, although it remains unclear whether he had any advanced notice that BOPA would forego the event, calling on people to celebrate with a day of service instead.
“If it was planned, it shouldn’t have to be pulled off in a week. If it’s pressure, now it has to be pulled off in a week,” said Murphy. “Aren’t we aware, especially our mayor… he has this color skin, right? So it’s not like he isn’t aware of anything that’s happened in the King era, period.”
