ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Saturday is Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. Even though a spike in COVID cases postponed the planned march, one Albuquerque man said he had to come out and pay his respect.

Local business owner and activist Joseph Powdrell was at the MLK monument in downtown Saturday in honor of the civil rights leader. He says the message of Martin Luther King Jr. is more important today than people realize.

“We’re all in this together – equally, not unequally. The message of victory is ‘let’s try to improve life on the face of the United States, particularly here in Albuquerque, New Mexico,” Powdrell says.

Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It took 18-years for his birthday to become a federal holiday and another 14 years for every state to recognize the holiday.