TYLER, Texas — Festivities honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. are underway across East Texas.
For the Tyler Together Race Relations Forum it started with a spoken word competition at The Foundry Coffee House. Many poets gathered to compete for a grand prize of $250 that was donated by multiple sponsors.
"It's quotes from MLK Jr. and motivations from other leaders," said Michael Guinn, coordinator and host of the competition. "It's the leader inside of us we are the leaders we want to be and it crosses generations young, old, black, and white."
This is the event's third year since it went on hiatus in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But this year the group was able to gather again to share their purpose.
"Martin Luther King Jr. said everybody was somebody and everybody matters," said Dorinda Williams, the vice president of TTRRF. "Being that way lets everyone know here in the community that we all matter. So continue to focus in on pushing the towards the mark."
People near and far traveled to give their best spoken word like England resident Valerie Kelso.
"It's not about winning it's about showing up and showing out and just participating," said Kelso. "Only god knows if I'm going to win, I don't know. Because there might be somebody better than me, or somebody might be worse than me, at least I entered."
Guinn says everyone deserves the same opportunity and platform to creatively express themselves -- and this event drew a diverse crowd who joined together to celebrate civil rights. Guinn says it’s exactly what the late Dr. King would’ve envisioned for America's future.
"For us to all come together and sit at the same table, except we're just we're just sharing words, that soul food so to speak," said Guinn.