comm JMVARY 23, 1996 Pi^e 3
in ,
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continued from page 1
Stafford's introduction suggested that from a spiritual
viewpoint tliat "...a man [a person] should not be judged
by the color of their skin." This sentiment was fur
thered by tiie reading of Psalm 40:11 by Louisburg stu
dent Sherri Newkirk. There was one amendment to
the Memorial ser
vice: Alex
Hawthorne read
"Remebrance,"
which is an ac
count of how Dr.
Martin Luther
King, Jr. wished
to be remem
bered. In his re
membrance King
humbly tells us
not to recall his
various awards
including the
Nobel Peace
Prize, but instead
to focus on his ef
forts to make his
dream a reality.
The next part of
the program had
Wright Hall's Residence Director Allen Bryant give an
oratory on King. The program listed "History" as the
focus of his speech, but before speaking Bryant ex
plained that tiie word history tends to turn people off,
so he opted to discuss King's legacy instead. Bryant
began with questioning whether he had any right to
speak about the man generally thought to belong strictiy
to African American legacy. Bryant argued that we
may be remembering King's dream, but we are not pre
serving his legacy if we believe that his dream was
only for African Americans to have racial equality. King
also mentioned the rights of NativeAmericans and Jews,
and the dream of one day seeing "...black children and
white children playing together." I included tiie defi
nitions of legacy and posterity, to remind us how tiieir
true meaning relates to preserving King's legacy, since
his "...is something to be remembered,...by
descendents...and succeeding, future generations."
In addition to the various speakers, the service
had two musical selections performed by the African
American His
torical Society
Gospel Choir.
It is hard to de
scribe the
strength of the
Choir's vocal
talent. The
closest phrase
that came to me
is to say that I
was "heavenly
transported"
while listening.
In between se
lections, Daniel
"Doc" Taylor
read Dr. Martin
Luther King,
Jr.'s famous "I
Have a Dream"
speech. "Doc" Taylor, not surprisingly is a member of
the AAHS Gospel Choir which also includes: Levon
Harris, Alex Hawthorne, Janelle Moore, Lynn Herring,
Lynette Smith, Roni Cherry, Sharon Home, Shaunda
Williams, and Candice Burt.
As I have already mentioned tiie service closed
with Rev. Sidney Stafford, who in closing suggested
we not forget the outstanding service to God done by
Dr, Martin Luther King, Jr., and invited attendants to
come to the community sponsored program at 7pm.
The Louisburg Memorial Service was well-stiiictured,
informative, and enjoyable event to celebrate Martin
Luther King Day.