“We shall overco-o-me, we shall overco-o-me, we shall overcome some da-ay-ay,” the marchers sang, forming pockets of warm steam in the cold air.

Other marchers had sung this song before – in Montgomery, Ala., Washington, D.C. and Selma, Ala.

But unlike Selma, there were no armed state police waiting at the end of this march.

Instead, during the march, Howard Bailey ran to the grocery store to make sure they had condiments for the hot coffee he had waiting for them at the State Street Baptist Church.

Bailey, associate vice president for student affairs, helped prepare the 2008 Martin Luther King Holiday Celebration. He was continuing four decades of activism.

While much legally sanctioned segregation has slowly died off since the civil rights movement, Associate History Professor John Hardin said the United States is still in therapy regarding racial justice.

“It’s like a 12-step process, and we’re only on step two,” he said.

The issue today lies not in race alone, but in appearances and the intersection of race and class, Hardin said. If someone can appear like the “average American,” they can thrive, but if they can’t, they are discriminated against.

Blacks and Hispanics make up about a quarter of the general population but half of the prison population, according to the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Census Bureau.

Both groups are less likely than whites to own houses and both have lower median incomes, according to the Census Bureau.

“Some have made it in our system; others are stuck and can’t get out,” said Saundra Ardrey, head of the political science department.

Bowling Green isn’t immune to these racial and economic inequalities. The three main problems it faces are education, housing and employment discrimination, said Linda McCray, head of the Bowling Green Human Rights Commission.

“People know not to say anything discriminatory, but their actions are evidence that discrimination still exists,” she said.

Ninety-eight percent of students at Dishman-McGinnis Elementary School, on Old Morgantown Road, qualify for the Federal Free and Reduced Lunch Program, according to school officials.

Bowling Green also has a home ownership percentage of 49 percent, well below the national average.

“You essentially have two communities: the haves and the have-nots,” she said.

McCray said she is also concerned that some landowners may be discriminating against their tenants by denying them special discounts and charging them higher rates because of race.

“Discrimination allows people to make a lot of money,” she said.

To deal with these issues, the commission works with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Kentucky State Human Rights Commission to investigate and take legal action.

Bowling Green Mayor Elaine Walker is trying to create a Diversity Task Force in the next few months to deal with issues of discrimination.

“There are many things under the surface,” she said. “The task force will be looking for these things.”

Bailey said Western’s campus still has much to do in reaching racial equality.

Bailey began his campaign for racial justice as a high school student in Kentucky in 1965. He and other students walked out of class and marched to influence the school board to stop delaying construction of a new high school.

Bailey said he didn’t really comprehend the changing times until he came to college at Western, where he actively campaigned for student groups for blacks.

“None of these things happened without resistance from the administration,” he said. “Young people were taking action, and I’m sure that was a major threat and concern.”

Bailey said he makes increasing diversity a priority in the places he has the ability to hire.

“I’ve got African-Americans, I’ve got Latinos, because I make it a priority to find more,” he said.

Ricardo Nazario-Colon, director of the Office of Diversity Programs, said the key to achieving social justice on campus lies in creating an honest dialogue between groups so that individuals can see their commonalities as well as their differences.

Bailey agreed, saying that the creation of racial dialogue was an important achievement of the civil rights movement.

Despite these things, Martin Luther King Jr. Day served as a reminder of a continued struggle for Bailey and others like him.

“I usually go home on Dr. King day frustrated and angry because I get so tired of hearing the ‘Dream Speech,’” he said. “Martin Luther King was about nonviolent direct action. When you’re telling me about nonviolence, you’re hoping I don’t raise up against you for what you’ve done.”

Herald reporter Ryan Hunton contributed to this story.

Reach the reporters at news@chherald.com.