In Atlanta, about 200 young demonstrators sat down in the middle of Peachtree Street, not far from the annual Martin Luther King's Birthday commemoration at Ebenezer Baptist Church, and briefly stopped the parade.

In St. Louis, a group of protesters rushed the stage at a prayer service, bringing the event to a halt until the police arrived.

In New York, there was a “die-in” outside Bloomingdale’s, in the heart of an upscale shopping area, while in Boston, similar “die-ins” took place on streets between Boston Common and the Public Garden and then in front of the Statehouse.

The nation’s celebration of Dr. King’s birthday on Monday was punctuated by protest, as a new generation of activists, angered by the deaths of several unarmed African-Americans in confrontations with the police, demanded that the traditional holiday rituals of speechmaking, community service and prayer breakfasts give way to denunciations of injustice and inequality.

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“The events that have happened have kind of diminished his dream a little bit,” said Aleah Hutchinson, 17, who attended a King event in Athens, Ala., and won a local essay contest connected to the holiday. “He wanted us all to work together in unity, but when certain events occur, like the events in Ferguson and the Trayvon Martin case, it kind of diminishes his dream a little bit because at that point, we’re not working together.”

Fat chance. He would have been squashed and squelched and battered into total dejection.

My sock radar is oscillating.