By Scott Pohl, WKAR
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-880659.mp3
LANSING, MI –
Hundreds of people gathered at the Lansing Center to hear a keynote address from Juanita Abernathy at the annual Martin Luther King Junior holiday luncheon today.
Scott Pohl reports.
AUDIO: Abernathy's husband was the late Reverend Ralph David Abernathy. She earned a spot in the International Civil Rights Hall of Fame for work that included organizing in Birmingham, Alabama during the 1955 bus boycott.
The 2010 King holiday marked the first where the sitting president is African-American. Abernathy was invited to the inauguration last year by president Obama.
"It was certainly an honor and a privelege to have been there," Abernathy says. "I sat behind the former presidents, and it was quite an occasion, but we've got to continue to support him."
Abernathy says the president needs support to continue the fight for equal justice, and for health care reform.