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A Destiny Church spokesperson says the appearance by a church haka team at the commemoration to mark the 50th anniversary of the civil rights movement’s March on Washington was a highlight for the movement.
Richard Lewis says the invite came from Bernice King from the Martin Luther King Centre, who has visited the church in New Zealand and noted similarities between the struggles of Maori and those of African Americans.
With only a month to prepare, the 12-member team put together a five minute slot for the three-hour event on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC.
It included a haka based on Dr King’s I have a dream speech delivered that day 50- years ago, and finished with Ka Mate.
"Anytime anybody watches the speech out of the archives of history you can’t help but get goose bumps and feel a deep sense of purpose in what Dr King delivered on that day and as we know it was a turning point and a key part of seeing the civil rights movement achieve what he set out to achieve, albeit 50 years later," Mr Lewis says.
Copyright © 2013, UMA Broadcasting Ltd
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