'Something positive': Hundreds brave cold to celebrate MLK Jr. with Lexington march

Austin Horn and Linda Blackford, Lexington Herald-Leader on Jan 19, 2026

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LEXINGTON, Ky. — Hundreds marched through bitter cold and wind in downtown Lexington Monday to celebrate the legacy of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr.

Lexington-area residents said showing up Jan. 19 was particularly important given the current political climate, citing limits on the teaching of diversity, equity and inclusion principles in schools.

Prosperitie Holloman, who was joined by her husband Steven pulling their two children in a wagon, said her 10-year-old didn’t know much about King because schools are afraid to teach about him.

“So, we’re here because we need to teach him,” Holloman said. “He needs to understand that for Black people, we had to fight for our freedom, people died for our freedom.”

Sen. Reggie Thomas, D-Lexington; Mayor Linda Gorton; and Rocky Adkins, senior adviser to Gov. Andy Beshear, marched alongside others in the front. The demonstration often features political figures like the governor and local officials.

University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto, who usually marches, had a family commitment, but Transylvania University President Brien Lewis said he was happy to be celebrating King’s legacy.

Despite political division, Lewis said, “the more we can do to foster a campus where everyone feels like they can be part of civil discourse, that’s more important than ever.”

Phillip Biggs was marching with his fraternity brothers in the local chapter of Omega Psi Phi, a historically Black fraternity.

“Given the political climate right now and everything that’s going on, it’s particularly important that we get out and show support for one another,” Biggs said. “This is what Dr. King would want us to do.”

The march took place hours after flyers with racist propaganda advertising the Ku Klux Klan were found in nearby downtown Lexington neighborhoods.

City council candidate Griffin VanMeter was there and said he talked to police about the flyers, which are not considered hate speech.

“It’s a fear tactic,” he said, calling the flyers the “last gasp of a dying organization.”

One resident told the Herald-Leader she spotted them on a nightly walk of her Bell Court neighborhood and threw about 100 of them in the garbage.

“I’m happy for people to realize it’s literally trash and throw them away,” Van Meter said.

Angie Bass attended with fellow Teamsters members, donning thigh-high fur boots, which protected against the day’s bitter cold. She braved the temperature because she wanted to “do something positive.”

“A lot of very negative things are going on around the world, and I wanted to do something positive,” Bass said.

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