Black Lives Matter Event Celebrates MLK

First Baptist Church, on East 8th street in Chattanooga, is where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once applied to become a minister right after he left seminary school .

Tuesday night several people crowded inside, all waiting to learn about the the Black Lives Matter movement.

Peter Hennigan is a history student and said he came out to learn more about what is going on with movement and here in Chattanooga.

"Just try and understand it more than, you know, at a distance and actually try and get a fuller grasp of the movement as whole. This is a really important movement and I think as someone who studies history this is something that is going to be remembered for a long time."

Guest speaker Montague Simmons is the executive director of Organization for Black Struggle traveled from St. Louis.

Simmons worked firsthand in Ferguson during the death of Michael Brown and said he came to share his knowledge of what he’s seen there and what he’s learned about violence in Chattanooga.

"We’re here in solidarity with CCJ and folks that have actually been fighting. It’s important because we’ve had a legacy not only even over the last two years, but over decades wherestate violence has actually taken lives without accountability. We’re at a moment now where community is demanding something different so when members of the community are willing to become organized and willing to organize themselves we need to do whatever we can to support it."

Simmons said there are many reasons why Dr. Martin Luther King would be proud of this movement.

"On one hand it’s opportunity for us to begin to reclaim the legacy that was his life and move past the narrative painted around the dream that’s been achieved. We still have work to do, and I think this is a big part this is exactly what he hoped for."