The 2025 Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration in Federal Way featured many calls to come together and be an agent for positive change in the community.
The Jan. 18 event, at the Federal Way Performing Arts and Event Center, 31510 Pete von Reichbauer Way S., featured performances highlighting the beauty of some of the many cultures in town. In keeping with the theme of “the next generation of the dream,” many performers were youth who shared vibrant dance, song and words with the audience.
Martin Moore, a former Federal Way City Council member, spoke about the opportunity to turn toward compassion.
“Federal Way is a wonderfully diverse city, home to people who speak many languages and represent cultures from around the world,” Moore said. “Yet alongside this richness of diversity, we also face challenges like poverty and homelessness, issues that impact far too many in our community and test our compassion and commitment to one another.
“Dr King’s teaching reminds us that addressing these challenges is essential to building a more just an equitable society for everyone. Dr King’s vision of unity, equality and justice calls on us to rise above division, not just in our daily interactions, but also in our politics. It reminds us that true progress comes when we work together with respect and understanding even when we see the world differently.”
Mayor Jim Ferrell reflected on Dr. King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail and a speech given by Bobby Kennedy, ending with the reflection that “there is more work we can all do in our community to promote equality and push back on those who fight against it. We face a difficult time in our nation and in the world, we must decide what path we will walk, and it must be one of justice and peace and ultimately, nonviolence. Dr King knew the way forward. Let us follow his example together as a tribute to all that he sacrificed.”
Keynote speaker Evan Cook shared a more somber view of the state of civil rights today and encouraged the audience to continue to fight for freedom.
“Dr King warned us about the dangers of integration without justice, about the risk of gaining access without changing systematic structures that continuously and consistently perpetuate inequality,” Cook said.
He encouraged the audience to realize that “we have the power to become the architects of the new dream, a dream that is truly inclusive, equitable, and just, a dream that starts with holding ourselves and our leaders accountable.”
In a pointed remark he said, “we’ll go a lot faster if some of those leaders, you know who you are, got out of those seats and stop slowing down the progress and being the gatekeepers of an oppressive system that is hurting all of us.”
The event was brought to a close with a joint pledge to continue the work of cultivating community while the Federal Way Community Flame was lit. The entire audience then joined in to sing “We Shall Overcome” with the event’s performers who gathered on stage together.