A little more than 50 years after Illinois first recognized the Rev. Martin Luther King’s birthday as a holiday, nearly 1,000 people braved Chicago’s bitter cold Monday to remember the fallen civil rights leader and insist that change is still needed across the nation.

       Amid a backdrop of the Iowa caucuses where several GOP candidates for president have either called for or peeled back equity initiatives, Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. scholarship breakfast was themed “Save Our Children.” Organizers said it served in part as a reaction to recent attempts by state and local governments to eliminate diversity and equity efforts in schools.

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       The estimated 950 people who attended the breakfast and speaking events organized by the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition at the Apostolic Church of God in the South Side’s Woodlawn neighborhood were joined by politicians such as Mayor Brandon Johnson and U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson. The two men spoke about the need for African American history and other cultural issues to be taught in public schools while also stressing that it remains important to continue fighting for racial equity in education.