Federal Way dreams of a bright future at annual MLK event

Published 12:11 pm Wednesday, January 21, 2026

Federal Way’s community flame is lit once again after the annual ceremony unique to the city’s event celebrating the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

This year’s celebration took place on Jan. 17 at the Federal Way Performing Arts and Event Center (PAEC).

Each year several individuals are selected to pass the community flame while representing important aspects of Federal Way. Each flame-bearer also shares their dreams for the city.

Carlecia Bell of Phenomenal She represented “a great place to live” this year and shared that her dream is for “equity to light the path for every person, where all can live fully, work with purpose, and play without barriers.”

Phenomenal She is a community-based nonprofit whose mission is to provide mentorship, encouragement, and empowerment to BIPOC young women by building confidence around education, social awareness, and self-esteem.

One program from the nonprofit is a dance team, which also performed at the event.

Charles Onyejiaka, who represented “a great place to learn,” is an 8th grader transitioning into 9th grade at TAF @ Saghalie and is the president of the student body. His dream for Federal Way is for “people to come together and get work done,” and he “hopes for a connected community, one with space for everyone’s ambitions and dreams, that supports local businesses and charitable efforts.”

“A great place to work” was represented by Audrey Ryan, manager of the Kaiser Permanente Clinic on South 320th Street. Her dream for the city is for Federal Way to be a “community where people find joy and purpose in their work, because everyone deserves to do something they love.”

Pastor Ben Dixon’s dream for Federal Way is that it becomes the most resourceful city in the state, where people with real needs are helped and equipped for real life. He represented “a great place to worship” this year.

Before being passed to Mayor Jim Ferrell to light the community flame itself, Matt Morningstar shared his dream as the representative of “a great place to play.” He and his wife Charity are the owners of Bricks and Minifigs Federal Way, and said his dream is “to see it become a truly connected community where every child has the resources and inspiration to build their own bright future.”

Federal Way’s MLK event also included dance performances and speakers honoring King’s legacy and reflecting on how to bring it forward.

This year’s keynote speaker was a renowned national voice on forgiveness and reconciliation. Reverend Anthony Thompson serves as the pastor of the Holy Trinity Reformed Episcopal Church in Charleston, North Carolina. In 2015, his wife, Myra Thompson, was among the nine lives lost during the racially motivated Mother Emanuel AME Church shooting.

Since then, he has dedicated his life to leading people in healing their pain and their community through forgiveness.

Ayana Freeman began the event singing the National Anthem and Black National Anthem (Lift Every Voice and Sing). She is the daughter of the late Federal Way City Councilmember and State Rep. Roger Freeman.

Mayor Jim Ferrell shared some reflections on the importance of following King’s example, and of the context.

“When Dr. King gave his speech in Washington, D.C., the I Have a Dream speech, it was a full 100 years since President Lincoln had issued his Emancipation Proclamation, and though slavery had officially ended essentially earlier, its brutal legacy of inequality, injustice and division was still very real in 1963 throughout the country, but especially in the South, and it continues to reshape our lives here in 2026,” Ferrell said.

“Today, let’s honor Dr. King, not only with our words, but with our actions,” Ferrell continued. “Let us turn pain into peace, carry his dream forward and ensure that this promise of equality, justice and love continues to guide us and now and for generations to come.”

Rev. Thompson highlighted that turning pain into peace can be done through forgiveness and reconciliation, but that these are not about simply forgetting the past — quite the opposite.

“It’s giving the truth about where we are right? The past brought us to the present. So I have to address the past so people can understand why we’re doing what we’re doing and how we feel about each other in the present, so that we can change it,” Rev. Thompson said.

Diversity Commission

The event itself was organized by Federal Way’s Diversity Commission, which is comprised of Jennifer Kiiru, George Houston, Craig Patrick, Chika Onyejiaka, Shante Lane, Ron Walker, Donna Arnold and Allison Fine.

At the event, they announced that one of the ways they are working on building the beloved community through an engagement survey to focus their efforts for the next year. To fill out the survey head to engagefw.com/community-engagement-survey.

Reflecting on the importance of MLK Day in 2026, diversity commissioner Shante Lane told the Mirror that “the most important thing is to find a way for us to continue his legacy in our changing times. Laws change, the political structure of the country changes,” and that these changes bring up the question, “how do we use the lessons that he taught us and the methods that he used to try to keep peace?”

“As much as we would love to believe that things are much different from that time, it’s just the same thing, different day. We have to learn how to get through that,” Lane added.

Former senior commissioner Frank Fields shared similar sentiments, saying that MLK Day this year is “bittersweet…from way back into the ‘50s to now, I think we’re going backwards, and it’s frightening and scary.”

He shared that while he hears the importance of the pastor’s message of peace, there are a lot of things that are really giving him a lot of concern right now, like the stripping of federal funding, overreach by ICE agents and more.

No matter what happens, especially if his worst fears come true, “we have to depend on each other, and neighborhoods have to come together,” Fields said.