GEARY COUNTY —Oscar winning screen writer and Kansas native Kevin Willmott delivered the keynote remarks at the Martin Luther King Jr. celebration in Junction City Monday. He told a large audience at the C.L. Hoover Opera House that Junction City is now an example, " of the multiracial democracy that America want to be. "
Willmott remembered during his time growing up that Junction City did not celebrate that diversity. "It was ashamed of it. Junction City always had this bad reputation. Of course part of it was from Ninth Street, but the other part of it was because it was so diverse."
Willmott said Junction City residents need to embrace who they are. "We need to celebrate who we are, we need to tell the world who we are."
The program also included a singing performance of "Glory" by Justin Aaron, recently a contestant on NBC's "The Voice," and Jerel D. McGeachy Jr. with his "I've been to the Mountaintop" remarks.
There was a march to 10th and Washington where the fourth in a series of Junction City statues was unveiled.