A wave of marchers with banners and drums swept through Dayton to commemorate the life and legacy of slain civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., on Monday.

An estimated 2,000 marchers stepped off on their journey at the Dr. Charles R. Drew Health Center on West Third Street, also known as Martin Luther King Jr. Way, to the Dayton Convention Center downtown, to hear a call to action from the march to a movement.

The Dayton Peace Bridge Movement will launch a series of forums and events, beginning Feb. 7, based on the principles of the civil rights leader to bring the community together, said James Hagan, a march and rally co-organizer.

The day of unity Monday was remembered by a cross-section of the Dayton community.

“There’s no question that we have come a long way, but the dream is not fulfilled,” Bishop Mark C. McGuire, Sr., senior pastor of the Potter’s House-Dayton International Ministries, said to the crowd. “With the election of the nation’s first black president, President Barack Obama, many would say that we have overcome. Well, it’s just not that simple. Yes, we’ve made progress. Yes, change has come. But the dream is still unfulfilled.”

The nation confronts issues such as inequality, mistrust, injustice and greed that has caused division among all Americans and prevented them from coming together with one cause and one purpose, he said.

“We shall overcome, but we need to maintain momentum,” he said.

U.S. District Judge Walter H. Rice told those gathered that many celebrate King’s legacy once a year and then wait until the next Martin Luther King holiday to mark his ideals and principles of non-violence.

The Dayton Peace Bridge Movement is meant to change that, officials said. The group plans to meet 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Feb. 7 at the Dayton International Peace Museum on West Monument Street to start its new mission.

Rev. Andre Hayes, pastor of the Sunlight Missionary Baptist Church in Dayton said King “became our voice and not only did he become our voice he demonstrated through action how we are supposed to come together as a community.”

Hayes said it was significant to march on the same day as President Obama’s second inauguration “because it shows we have ascended to another level,” even as more work remains ahead in King’s and the nation’s journey.

Paula Watts, a Dayton marcher and Hayes’ fiancée, said the inauguration inspires “African-American people that we can do anything. The sky is the limit.”

Someday, Watts said, she’d like to see prejudice rooted out and “we all realize we are created equal.”

Joseph Radelet, a marcher and chief executive officer of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Miami Valley, marched with King during the civil rights era.

“Dr. King’s legacy is the hope that we as a nation could live together, prosper together and care for our children together,” he said. “There’s been a lot of progress since the first time I marched behind Dr. King in Detroit in 1967. However, the issues of race and division continue to haunt us. Here in Dayton, the racial divide is one of the issues that holds us back most seriously.”

Carolyn Lee, a Dayton resident, brought four children from her daycare center to the rally to hear the message of the legacy of King and watch the president’s inauguration on television.

“It’s really exciting,” she said.