Though thousands of Houstonians united in abandoning their posts at schools and offices to celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., an air of divisiveness lingered as many Houstonians realized that the city held two parades today at the same hour, within a few miles of each other. The Houston Chronicle reports that two entities, The Black Heritage Society and the MLK Parade Foundation, kicked off parades at 10 a.m. in Downtown Houston and Midtown, respectively.
Interestingly, both foundations united in a joint parade in 2006 to entertain the city and commemorate the “I Have a Dream” activist. However, Charles Stamps, chairman and CEO of the MLK Parade Foundation and Ovide Duncantell, executive director of the "Original" MLK parade, were committed to producing the events separately for the last 7 years.
Stamps proclaimed "If our parades were smaller… it would make sense to combine them, but they aren't."
Given that Houston is over 600 square miles in area, one would not fathom that the city is not large enough for two parades. Though Dr. King stood firm in his belief that there is only one race (the human race), there will continue to be two major MLK parades in Houston. One will boast that it is the “Original MLK Birthday Parade”, and, well, the other will brag about its size. As long as the attending adolescents of both events know that they aren’t just there for the candy, the war of the parades can continue to be waged.
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