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January 21, 2008

Martin Luther King Day: prayer, song and a history quiz

NEWPORT -- Participants in today’s local celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day prayed, sang, gave speeches, and even held a history quiz to honor the legacy of the civil rights leader.

Following a morning performance at Thompson Middle School by the school’s Select Chorus, Joyce Williams, president of the Newport County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, asked, “Do you hear the harmony in their voices? That’s what Martin stood for.”

She noted that King will have been dead 40 years this April, longer than he lived. But his life continues to serve as a powerful reminder for people to strive for equality and to give of themselves for the cause.

“We need your help,” she said, urging everyone in the audience to volunteer themselves as she and others who were alive during King’s time have done. “A few of us are getting old.”

The guest speaker at the annual birthday program was Army Lt. Col. Lester Knotts, a professor at the Naval War College and graduate of West Point Academy. He began by telling the audience of about 80 that he could cite endless “grim” statistics that reflect how, even after King’s death, “equal opportunity is not here yet.” But he said he wouldn’t do that.

“I’m a happy guy,” said the married father of two young children.

A Sunday school teacher and former infantryman now seeking his third master’s degree, he went on to deliver a message of how everyone can improve their own lives -- not to enrich themselves -- but to better the lives of those around them.

“I want to encourage you to arise and do something,” he said. “My message to you is not one of woe but one of hope.”

While not everyone is a famous civil rights leader, he said, most possesses either physical, political, financial or social power -- even the power of love.

“Get up and use it!” he repeated over and over. “Share what you have. It would be selfish to do otherwise.”

Repeating some of his favorite adages, he said, “You can talk and talk but nothing gets done until someone picks up a wrench,” and “Do not be afraid of hard work; be afraid of laziness.”

Other speakers included Mayor Steven Waluk, Supt. John Ambrogi and School Committee Chairman Charles Shoemaker. In the audience were members of the City Council and Newport’s delegation to the General Assembly.

An hour into the program, 18 runners, including one carrying a torch, arrived in the auditorium in sweatsuits and yellow T-shirts commemorating MLK Day. They were volunteers from Naval Station Newport continuing the annual tradition of carrying the torch from Portsmouth to Newport in tribute to King.

The winner of the annual essay contest, Lauren Thibeault, a seventh-grader from Charlestown, read her entry.

Between speakers, the audience sang “Lift Ev’vy Voice & Sing” and “We Shall Overcome,” two popular civil-rights anthems.

In the afternoon, following a luncheon at the Atlantic Beach Club, the 14th annual black history bowl was held at Thompson, testing the knowledge of students from area schools.

The documentary “American Blackout,” about the historic suppression of black voters in America, is being shown today at 5 p.m. at the Dr. Martin Luther King. Center. That will be followed by a worship service at the Community Baptist Church, the second of the day. A prayer breakfast was held earlier at St. Paul’s Methodist Church.

-- Journal staff writer Richard Salit

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 3:30 PM | Permalink

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