Journalist leads during MLK Day Celebration dinner

Hazel Trice Edney just wanted to find out what Abilene is holding in its collective hand.

Edney, keynote speaker at the Abilene Black Chamber of Commerce's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration dinner at the Abilene Convention Center, relayed her own spiritual journey, as well as her professional one, on stage.

Her spiritual message centered on Moses' staff in the Book of Exodus, transformed into a serpent by the power of God in Egypt.

With a new president set to take over the executive branch later this week, Edney, a journalist working in Washington, D.C., asked the audience to consider what it was they were carrying themselves.

"Is it a stone of love or a stone of hate," she said. "What's in your hand, Abilene? What's in your hand, Abilene Black Chamber of Commerce? What's in your hand?"

Edney's speech was just part of the city's celebration of King. A large group also gathered during the sunny afternoon Monday to cross a bridge named after the civil rights leaders on East Highway 80.

Participants, young and old, black and white — and other races as well — walked both sides of the roadway with flags and banners, singing and speaking together giving recognition to King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

At the dinner, Edney said she's paying attention to the country as the first black president, Barack Obama, leaves office to be replaced by President-elect Donald Trump.

If she could write Trump's speech, she'd have him apologize to Obama, she said. He'd apologize for his role in what has become known as the "birther movement," where it's asserted that Obama was born outside of the United States.

Edney put her entire speech on whether or not America is great into the context of her recent coverage of a civil rights march through the capital. She talked about Trayvon Martin, about covering the riots in Ferguson, Missouri, and about wanting to leave the rally she was covering because there was inclement weather. She sang The Temptations, which earned her a few "amens" from the crowd and had a few others singing along.

But she said she left that rally she was covering and walked across the street to the Martin Luther King Jr. monument. It inspired her.

"America is great," she said. "The question is whether or not it will be greater. It must be greater because our children depend on it. It must be greater because our grandchildren depend on it. It must be greater because you depend on it."

How? Together, she said. And Terrenia Fitts, president of Abilene Black Chamber of Commerce, agreed.

"Together, this community, everyone, has a responsibility to this country to make it greater," she said. "Together, we can make it better."