Our gift for
^ _ By BEN J AM IMF .~CH AVIS JR.
-L'. Syndicated Columnist
ye* ?????*
NEW YORK - The national
jj..'- holiday celebrating the life and
^T, ministry of the Rev. Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. is, from our
perspective, the most important
national holiday we are privileged
to celebrate.
; ? The nation is becoming more
familiar not only with the name
v of Dr. King but also with the
principles that guided his life.
Despite the fact that there was
. . .
* some strong opposition to the
passage of the bill that made Dr.
King's birthday a holiday,J the
multiracial condition which came
;< together to support the bill was,
- v fmally, successful.
> . We celebrate this year's King
holiday in the wake of .racist
white mob violence in Howard
< Beach in Queens, N.Y. There is a
OrMt?r
e? vuwi iK?u iuuay man ever
I before for all people who are
- - committed to human decency to
forthrightly challenge all forms
of racial injustice.
. ? If Dr. King's legacy means
I anything, it should mean that we
have a moral obligation to fight
?* racisnu^__
But it is just not enough that
only African-Americans take the
lead in fighting this battle. In
fact, the majority of white
Americans have abdicated their
historic responsibility to fight
" nivv lowisni.
; This country does not need a
'
| King estate
?
i .
? .
; : By MIKE OWEN
. ; Associated Press Writer
j; PHILADELPHIA - Marry
Coretta Scott, or switch places.
Choose between taking an extra
turn, meeting President Kennedy
or studying Gandhi in Indian
4 *" *
1 These are some>%af the choices
for players of a new board game
? based on the life of Martin
? Luther King Jr. They aren't
choices King had to make in his
^ , own life, but the game's inventor
figures they can help teach people
about the slain civil rights leader.
* *
The Martin Luther King Jr.
Game, labeled as suitable for
>*; ages 6 and up, is marketed by
Car!ac<vof Chicago and has the
* King estate's approval. The Martin
Luther King Jr. Center for
':9\. Non-Violent Social Change in
Atlanta gets royalties.
I
i
T
Cadaco President Waymon
i*'- Whittman said it's too early to
know whether the game, in,
troduced in August, is selling
well. He said the company ex'
pects sales to peak on King's bir'??:
thday celebration next month.
H
"It's a game that has learining
aspects about it. I think that's the
reason we like it," said Isaac
Faris Sr., agent for King's estate
SAMS CO)
~ Through his
a better pla<
"The urgei
leaders of i
integrity ? lec
but in love wil
with publicity
leaders who <
egos to the gt
534 N. Lib
724-0501
Martin Luth
new wave of liberal guttt that oirly
offers paternalistic ? and
usually non-functioning - handout
programs. Instead, White
America must own up to its
racism and then consistently
commit itself to corrective action.
We must remember that it was
from a cell in the Birmingham-jail
that Dr. King warned, 44Injustice
anywhere is a threat to-justice
everywhere."
Therefore, we cannot be patient
with the injustice in Howard
Beach.
We cannot be patient with the
injustice of apartheid in South
Africa.
We cannot be patient with the
injustice of the U.S.-supported
contras in Nicaragua. And we
cannot be patient with the injustices
suffered by the Palestinians.
If Dr. King were alive today,
he would celebrate his birthday
by saying no to Reagan's inhumane
1988 budget. He would
say yes to homes for the
homeless, jobs for the jobless and
food for the hungry.
We recall that the year before
Dr. King's assassination, he
?changed his mind about how his
dream could be fulfilled!"
Although 4ie refused to give up
A ? M ?
tnc oream, ne now understood
that his dream could not be
fulfilled without a major social
transformation of the basic structure
of our society.
In the words of Dr. King, "For
/
approves M
and husband of King's sister,
Christine. "It's an educationaltype
game*, and our children have
to learn more about Dr. King."
The inspiration for the game
was the national holiday in
King's honor, celebrated for the
first time last Jan. 20, said its inventor,
Richard Levy.
"Right prior to the first
celebration of the holiday, our
daughter kept coming home from }
a suburban Washington school
with more information on Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr.," said
Levy, a Wilkes-Barre native who
lives in Bethesda, Md.
Soon, he said, 6-year-old Bettit
was asking her parents questions
about King.
Ullf. 1
we Knew a lot about King,"
he said, "but not enough to
answer our daughter's
questions."
He and his wife, Sheryl, decided
that some research could help
them make a game that could
teach the basics of King's life.
Players spin the spinner and
move ahead on the 63-space
board that includes milestones in
King's life, such as his birth, his
"I Have a Dream" speach, his
Nobel Peace Prize, his assassination
and the final square, his naMPANY
HONORS !
efforts the world t
:e to live, to work ?
r O
jt
: s
ncy of the hour call
vise judgment and s
iders not in love with m
th iustice: leaders not ii
>, but in love with huift
can subject their parti
eatness of the cause."
? Dr. Martin L. K
erty St.
*
er King Jr.
1
years I~tabored wittrthrldea of I
reforming the existing institu
At-- " -
nuns ui me aouin, guttle change
here, a little changrthere. Now I
feel quite" differently. I think
you've got to have a reconstruction
of the entire society, a
revolution of values."
The good news is that there are
real opportunities today to follow
through on Dr. King's vision.
* Mayor Harold Washington has
begun a reconstruction of
Chicago that has served to
heighten the aspirations of all
those on whose behalf Dr. King
struggled. That is why it is so important
not to let the forces of
racism stop Washington from being
re-elected in February.
In New York City, amidst all 1
of the anger, pain and, in some
cases, cynicism, there is also I
some good news. Out of the
agony of the Howard Beach inci- I
dent has emerged the kind of I
4 'mass^ meetings' * which played
such a vital role in mobilizing our
people during the civil rights
movement.
In Mahhattan, in Brooklyn,
and in other parts of New York
City, African-Americans ate now
joining hands in large numbers
and in ways that they have not
tried for a long time. Therefore,
throughout this nation, let us all
come together and dare to resurrect
a new freedom movement.
This would be the greatest birthday
present we could ever give
to the memory of Dr. King.
LK game
tional holiday.
Some squares call for the
player to draw a "quote" card
and then read aloud a quotation
from King.
"We wanted to make the
assumption that they didn't know I
about King. We didn't want to I
make it a trivia game," Levy I
said. I
J.'J-K ? I
uui uaugiuci uiun I Know
about King prior to this holiday.
We felt there were probably a lot
more people in America who
didn't know about Martin Luther
King than those who did,
especially at the age we were aiming
at."
This isn't the first time an entrepreneurhasjjskgd-fo^4he
King
?estate*s~approval on a product.
"People are always coming to
us with different ideas," Faris
said. "We've accepted a number
of items ? posters, artists'
renderings, various kinds of
things."
On the other hand, he said, the
estate has turned down proposals
for such items as a pocketknife
with Dr. King's name on it.
"We felt that that was out of
character with his philosophy of
non-violence," he said. "There's
?u:_? i-i?
l/vwu :>wiut uiiici uiui&s, 11kc i
jeans, underclothes; we've had to I
turn those down."
DR. KING I
lecame I
and to enjoy. I
's. for I
found
oney, I
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anity;
Icular J I
ing Jr. /a
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SE?III
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*
\
The C
martin u
AFRI Productions of I
Faith Ji
A Musical Men
SPONSORED BY
The Student Activi
MARTIN
L. KING
(January 15,1929 ? April 4, 15
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MODERN
722-411
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Jhronkjle, "f^HKSCiay, January 1?, 1987-PaoeC3
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Jew York performs
DURNEY
iory of Martin f.
Thursday, Jan. 22 _
8:00 PM
R. Williams Auditorium
( , ' ' ? '
ADMISSION
FREE
. " '
ties Office of WSSU
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Jfl V^l
lifl
MAY JHE
CAM CONTINUE I
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Chevrolet I
owntown Deal" I
at Fourth and Broad.
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