Hundreds of people attended a commemoration of the life of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr yesterday to mark the 50th anniversary of the peace activist’s murder.

Glenn Fubler, who helped organise the tribute at City Hall, said it was an occasion to celebrate “the connections that are in our roots”.

Mr Fubler said: “There was this sense that there is something bigger than you and me, something in the air, some impetus for us to move forward”.

The event also recognised the work of the Bermuda Sloop Foundation and the Chewstick Foundation as groups that provide a “beacon” to young people on the island.

Wayne Caines, the Minister of National Security, told the gathering that Dr King was killed for “the things he believed, the colour of his skin, for ideology”.

Mr Caines added: “Someone thought it important to try to kill the dreamer.

“The fact that we are here this afternoon, 50 years later, bears testament to the fact that they could not kill the dream.

“We have to reflect, 50 years later, if our world is in fact a better place. I would say it is not as bad as it used to be, but we are not where we ought to be.”

Jeanne Atherden, the Leader of the Opposition, said the Sloop Foundation had been “based on the dream of three avid sailors”.

She said Bermudians were “living together in the same boat — it’s not one group that can move it forward — it’s everybody”.

Martha Dismont, executive director of Family Centre, presented an award to Gavin Smith, head of Chewstick Foundation.

She said: “The Chewstick dreamers have heard within themselves that safe space and want to see it more and more in our community, But it has to be through you, me and each of us.”

Reverend King was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel room in Memphis, Tennessee after he had gone to the city to help resolve a strike involving city sanitation workers organised in protest at unequal treatment of black and white employees.