The drums marking the start of a peace walk commemorating the life and dream of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will sound a little bit earlier than planned Saturday.

In January, event organizer Sylvester Walker announced that he had set a peace walk honoring King for this Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m. But when the city scheduled a homecoming parade for Super Bowl star Malcolm Butler overlapping the walk, Walker rescheduled the event for noon.

“Since it’s such a tight schedule, we want to accommodate them,” Walker said.

Walker invited Butler and city officials to the peace walk that begins at the Warren County Court House and ends at the King monument on the street named in his honor. The walk will wrap up in time for the 2 p.m. parade on Washington Street, Walker said.

Part of Walker’s dream for the peace walk is ensuring that people peacefully remember the slain civil rights leader as an icon of American history, not just black history.

“Dr. King didn’t die just for us to not be able to embrace one another — black, white, all races,” Walker said. “I just want the City of Vicksburg to know what Dr. King stood for.”

The walk is nonpolitical and will be a peaceful symbol of unity, unlike many walks and protests around the county in the aftermath of the shooting death of an unarmed black teen by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo., Walker said.

“This is about healing the wounds of our city and enlightening something spiritual so we can move forward and not look back,” Walker said.

Guest speaker and Vicksburg native Lawrence Hardge agreed with Walker’s assessment and said many rallies around the county that have turned violent were misguided.

“No one is preaching solutions. All they talk about is problems,” Hardge said.

Harde is founder of Hardge Investments, and hopes that his success in business can inspire young people.

“They think it is easier for them to have a gun than a computer and do something to make money,” Hardge said. “They need to realize there is power in educating yourself.”

Such education, he said, begins at home and requires a personal transformation.

“We have to teach them to carry themselves like a respectable man. That means pull your pants up, take your earrings out and turn your ball cap around,” he said.