South Carolina’s biggest MLK Day event going virtual again

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – South Carolina’s biggest ceremony to honor the life of civil rights hero Martin Luther King Jr. will be held virtually again because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The King Day at the Dome event also was held virtually in 2021 because of the pandemic. The state NAACP says the keynote speaker for the virtual celebration on Jan. 17 will be NAACP National Board of Directors Chairman Leon Russel. The event is usually held at the Statehouse after a church service at Zion Baptist Church in downtown Columbia and a march to the capitol grounds. The first King Day at the Dome brought in thousands of people protesting the Confederate flag that then flew atop the Statehouse dome.