A couple hundred people turned out for a tribute in honor of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday at the center bearing his name in Rock Island.
"We have to continue to talk, continue to recognize what's working and not working. If we don't talk about race, if we ignore the positives and the negatives, we can't grow," said keynote speaker, Dr. Chris Whitt of Augustana College.
Whitt says great strides have been made since the Civil Rights movement in the 60's, but Ferguson and other recent incidents remind everyone there is still a great divide.
"There are two tracks. We kind of have to see if the love side will continue to grow, or if the side where there is some hate, there is some intolerance, misunderstanding will grow", Dr. Whitt said.
Larry Bell stood off to the side and watched, with a handmade poster that read "Black Lives Matter," a rallying cry nationwide now linked to MLK Day this year.
"We got to come together and march again. Only way we're going to get it done. We can't start sitting around complaining. We got to hit the streets again," Bell said.
He marched in Chicago in the 60's, and says he feels peaceful protests are going to make a comeback.
"History repeats itself. We did this in the 60's and it's back again. I thought it was over, but history is repeating itself, so I'm getting involved."