As the DePaul community gathered to commemorate slain civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. some questioned how far the U.S. and the city of Chicago has come when it comes to segregation.

Natalie Moore, a reporter with WBEZ who covers news and issues on the South Side, was the keynote speaker Monday at the 17th Annual Prayer Breakfast at the Lincoln Park Student Center.

Chicago is a diverse city where people of different races do not often intermingle, Moore said.

“Mayors Richard M. Daley and Rahm Emanuel have touted and promoted Chicago as a world-class city; the skyscrapers kiss the clouds, the billion dollar millennium park, the Michelin rated restaurants, pristine lake views, fabulous shopping, vibrant theater scene…,”  Moore said. “Yet swept under the rug is the stench of segregation that compromises Chicago.”

Chicagoans need to get out of their neighborhoods and explore the city, Moore said.

“Take advantage of living in a world-class city, go out of your comfort zone,” Moore said. “Don’t listen to what people may say negatively about certain neighborhoods. Go see for yourself.”

Vallen Whittaker, who came to the U.S. from Belize, attended the breakfast with her friend Patty Bryant. Both women said there is still work to be done when it comes to segregation.

Whittaker said if Dr. King was here today, he would say, “We could do more and do better.”

Bryant agreed, adding that the federal holiday honoring the Nobel Peace Prize winner should be acknowledged by everyone.  

“He would be a little disappointed… Every single commemorative event today should be standing room only,” Bryant said.

But Bryant said strides as far as racial equality have been made.

“We’re not perfect yet, but we’re still going to push through,” Bryant said.

Whittaker said she had no idea the U.S. was as segregated as it was when she first prepared to come to the U.S.  She said she was initially told not to come to this country.

“I didn’t get it because my best friend was white from home, so I couldn’t understand the race problem,” Whittaker said.  “Even now that I’m here for a long time, I don’t get it, the white people are still different towards me.”

The women said they still have a “whirlwind of emotions” when they think about the life and death of King.

Bryant was in high school when King was assassinated.

“I just cried, it was like a personal family member had been assassinated so I was very emotional,” Bryant said.

The event also had performances of DePaul singers, poem recitations and “an original interview-based theatre piece sampling contemporary ideas about Dr. King’s legacy.