Group says it's 'going back to its roots' with their celebration.

We all know about the fight over Houston's Martin Luther King, Junior Day Parade. We know about the city ordinance that says only one parade can be held Downtown on any given day. We remember a Federal Judge said that ordinance is legal. We remember last year's coin toss that gave one group the Downtown Parade-while the other set up on Allen Parkway.

Things are a little more low-key this time around-but that doesn't mean there won't be two parades in Houston to mark the life of the Civil Rights Leader.

"We're going back to our roots this year to Martin Luther King Boulevard and Griggs Road, Two O'clock. We'll kick off there with our 31st annual parade honoring Martin Luther King, Junior," said Black Heritage Society Executive Director Ovide Duncantell. "Our theme this year is I have a Dream-and there will be a picture of Doctor King on our banner-and then I am the Dream-and there will be a picture of (President-Elect) Barack Obama."

Duncantell said he plans to continue staging a Martin Luther King Day parade for as long as he's around. He again said he believes the organizers of this year's Downtown parade are bringing too much commercialism in to the celebration-a position he has long maintained.

"We promised Doctor King's Father we would continue this annually, every year. We also promised him we would not highly commercialize his son's name," Duncantell said.
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