Wayne Allen | Daily

Times One of the many performing arts groups that performed during the Martin Luther King, Jr. Urban Scholarship Breakfast, Saturday.

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Wayne Allen

PDT Staff Writer

The 24th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Urban Scholarship Breakfast was held at the Southern Ohio Medical Center Friends Center on Saturday morning. The theme for the breakfast was, “Advancing The Dream: The Work Isn’t finished.”

This years keynote speaker was LaTawnda Moore, a scholarship recipient in 2000.

Serving as the master of ceremonies was Maureen Cadogan, who described Moore as a 2000 graduate of Portsmouth High School who now works as an assistant attorney for Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine.

“To those that come before me I give honor and to those that come after me I give the following advice, believe in yourself but, believe in mankind more. This is the difference between being self-righteous and being right. Celebrate your success, but acknowledge you did not get there by yourself. This is the difference between being great and being grateful,” Moore said. “We are here today to celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Many people today think that it’s just a day off of work or school and a man with a dream. This is a man who wrote and delivered 2,500 speeches, wrote five books and was the youngest man ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize.”

Moore said, King traveled more than six million miles delivering his message of justice and equality.

“Today we honor the memory but, we press forward because there is still work to be done,” Moore said. “May years ago I wrote to the scholarship committee that I envisioned a colorblind society. With the hindsight of maturity, I no longer dream of such a society. Instead I dream of a society that recognizes our shared history, no matter how difficult it is. In order to celebrate our shared achievements, we have to know the shared difficulty,” Moore said. “Let today’s activities be a rally cry, be proud of the legacy and greatness that’s been bestowed upon us and understand that because we’ve been given much, much is expected.”

The annual march will be held at 2 p.m. today. Participants are being advised to gather in the east parking lot of Shawnee State University on the corner of Second and Waller Streets. The 2012 Scholarship Recipients will be the Grand Marshals. A memorial service and a reading of scholarship essays will be held after the march at Christ Temple Church, located at 13th and Waller Streets in Portsmouth.

Wayne Allen may be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 228, or tallen@civitasmedia.com.