A racially mixed audience joined hands in collective and hopeful prayer to open the 24th annual \Tribute and Ceremony"" honoring the work of Martin Luther King Jr. Monday afternoon in the Capitol rotunda.
Hundreds packed an already crowded space to listen to prominent speakers and gospel music performed by regional groups, including the UW Gospel Choir.
Among the speakers was Gov. Jim Doyle, who presented an official State Proclamation declaring Monday as Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and Milwaukee Mayor Marvin Pratt, the city's first black mayor.
""We came because of the... cause he died for,"" Pratt said. ""Times have changed for the better since Dr. King left us but we still have a long way to go.""
Paraphrasing King, Pratt said, ""This is no time to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.""
The mood was celebratory as the ceremony honored ""Mother"" Albertina Walker, widely considered the Queen of Gospel, with the Lifetime Achievement Award. A boisterous woman in large, metallic sunglasses, Walker broke out in impromptu song amidst spontaneous hollers of ""Amen!"" and ""Hallelujah!"" from the crowd.
Milwaukee resident Marie Ffolkes said she was moved by the ceremony, but felt most people had forgotten King's message in their daily lives.
""I think we have a long way to go in terms of building friendships ... and personal connections,"" Ffolkes said, saying a cultural gap between races still had to be bridged.
""We need to build tolerance-not just for race but for women and ... homosexuals, "" she said. ""I think we are probably as far away from that now as we were then.""
The nearly two hour-long ceremony ended with an emotional recitation of King's famous speech ""I Have A Dream"" by Madison sixth-grader Armani Davis, setting the stage for optimism among the speakers and the crowd.
""We will eliminate the culture of despair and disparity-we will create a land of hope and dreams for every man, woman and child in this country,"" Pratt concluded.
