Sunday, January 14, 2007

REMEMBERING A HERO

TO THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Countians remember Dr. King

By IRIS HERSH Staff writer
Chambersburg Public Opinion



The late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. inspired a nation with his non-violent methods of fighting for equality for everyone.

He sought peace through dynamic leadership and speeches of hope for a better life -- regardless of a person's race, creed or color.

And King's message touched the lives of local residents.

From 1957 to 1968, King traveled more than 6 million miles, spoke over 2,500 times and wrote five books and numerous articles. He led a massive protest in Birmingham, Ala., and planned the drives in Alabama for the registration of African-Americans as voters, according to Nobel Lectures, Peace 1951-1970.

He was arrested upwards of 20 time and assaulted at least four times, and awarded five honorary degrees, was named Man of the Year by Time Magazine in 1963 and became the symbolic leader of African Americans as well as a world figure.

King directed the peaceful march on Washington, D.C. of 250,000 people to whom he delivered his address, "I Have a Dream."

Helen Reed of Carlisle was part of that 1963 march on Washington that King led.

"I was about 21 and a member of the Carlisle NAACP," said Reed.

Numerous buses from across the country brought people of many races and ethnic backgrounds to Washington to participate in the march.

"As a young black person I thought we're finally going to get some recognition," Helen Reed said, adding she was so far away from King that she couldn't recognize him but could hear him speak and recognized his voice.

"He said his 'I had a dream' speech," Helen Reed said, "and I was honored to hear someone of his caliber speak in Washington and get recognition from government officials."

African-Americans then wanted a lot of things they couldn't have, she said, adding in 1963 it was better for African-Americans in Pennsylvania than in the South. Even after the speech in 1963, in Carlisle there were places African-Americans couldn't go, but we wanted to go," she said. "I felt more accepted by people after King's speech."

Helen Reed remembered going to a popular restaurant in Carlisle with a group of friends where she felt her group was treated poorly because there were some African-Americans in the group. When that happened she recalled King's speech and thought that things had to get better.

His speech and all that he did made her, her friends and her family feel proud to be African Americans, she said.

Reed's husband, the Rev. Walter Reed, will be the speaker at the 28th annual Martin Luther King Jr.community service at 4 p.m. Sunday in Zion Reformed United Church of Christ, 259 S. Main St., Chambersburg.

The Rev. Van Scott of John Wesley AME Zion Church, Chambersburg, saw King on a college campus and heard him speak.

"He had a vision to see this country as one individual and see everyone as the same, not different no matter what the color of their skin was," Scott said, adding a man should be judged by his character, that is what makes a person who he is. The speech caused Scott to look at people as not what they look like, but by their actions and thoughts.

"Since I became a minister I listen to what God is saying, and he doesn't see us in color but as men and women," Scott said, adding it's not people's color that makes them who they are.

Jenny Waters of Chambersburg and her husband, the late Donald "Mike" Waters, saw King at Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, around 1965, Waters said. A featured speaker at a program, he spoke about his work with the civil rights movement.

"I remember that he was a very dynamic speaker and held my interest from start to finish," she said. Donald and Jenny Waters were involved with the Chambersburg Chapter of the NAACP at that time, and the Chambersburg Community Improvement Association, which had been chartered two years before, in 1963.

"He motivated us to press forward with trying to make conditions better for African-Americans in our community," Waters said. "He said that in order to make things better for our people, it would have to start at a grass roots level in local communities.

She feels King inspired local people to stand up for justice in the local community in a non-violent way with a local march.

In 1967, Waters recalled the CCIA and local NAACP chapter led a march to Borough Hall in Chambersburg and spoke to local councilmen about housing and employment for local African-Americans.

In early 1968, Eugene Rideout of Shippensburg heard King speak a high school he was attending in Brooklyn, N.Y.

As a high school student interested in politics, King's speech about youth getting involved in their government made a great impact on Rideout, he said. King told the group they were the young people of the future and to get involved in government, learn about the Constitution and what government is all about. Rideout said King inspired him to got involved in politics and he eventually ran for mayor of Chambersburg and commissioner of Franklin County.

"He brought everyone a long way and got people to realize we should be one nation, not a divided nation," Rideout said.

At 35, King was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize. When notified about being selected, he announced he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement.

Though his life ended tragically on April 4, 1968, at 39, his legacy has continued in his teachings of non-violence and in his dream that people be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

Reprinted Courtesy of the Public Opinion Newspaper

16 comments:

  1. Happy James Earl Ray Day, KIKE Schwartzo...

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  2. Well, at least some of us get that day off.:)

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  3. Vonbluvens: keeps following in the footsteps of Satan

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  4. He had a dream... That the little black boys could hold the hands of little white girls.

    That is one of the most sickening quotes I ever had to listen to. It wasn't a dream. It was a nightmare...

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  5. Nikki,

    Check out article about white supremacist groups. It mentions CAH but not by name but is very friendly.

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  6. Another article of interest...

    Matt Hale's brother pleads guilty to felony


    Thursday, January 18, 2007



    PEKIN - An East Peoria felon and brother of imprisoned white supremacist Matt Hale pleaded guilty Wednesday to a stolen firearm charge that could net him up to 30 years in prison, an official said.
    David M. Hale, 39, 217 Randolph, East Peoria, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated possession of a stolen firearm. Hale told police in late May that he stole a dozen firearms, including an AK-47 assault rifle and handguns, from his father, Russell, and sold them for $2,000 worth of crack cocaine since the beginning of May, according to court records.

    The charge is an enhanced felony, which, coupled with Hale's prior conviction of armed violence, carries a maximum penalty of up to 50 years in prison. Attorneys on Wednesday agreed to cap the sentence at 30 years in prison, with a minimum sentence of six years, when he is sentenced March 1, Tazewell County Assistant State's Attorney Kirk Schoenbein said.

    A second count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon was dismissed in exchange for the guilty plea.

    Russell Hale had the guns at his home, which he shares with David Hale.

    David Hale's younger brother, Matt Hale, was sentenced to 40 years in prison in 2005 for soliciting an FBI informant to kill U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow in late 2002. He was convicted on charges of murder solicitation and obstruction of justice.

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  7. Harry, that is an excellent article.

    Tony - gotta hand it to Mommy & Daddy Hale - they must really have some special child-rearing practices.

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  8. A thought - if those in the racist movement spent 3/4 the amount of time they spend on trying to castigate Dr. King in attempting to get the freaks, weirdoes, and sickos out of their movement, we might have something to worry about.

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  9. Nikki: The racist movement only condemns pedophiles within their ranks when they get arrest. Any other time, they are welcome with open arms.

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  10. Uh, Chris Drake:

    The Manson Family (Family of Infinite Soul) believed in a white racial philosophy. The Tate-Labianca killings were perpetrated supposedly to incite a racial "holy war" between the blacks and whites.

    Manson foresaw the blacks winning this war, but not being able to control the reigns of power. They would then have to hand over control to the Fanily, who would have ridden out Armageddon hiding in a hole in Death Valley , California.

    I am one of those who thinks that Manson should have gotten a comparatively lighter sentence then those who actually perpetrated the killings (take responsibility for your own actions, after all). But, indeed, Mansonism is at heart a racialist philosophy, although it has some left-wing (environmentalist) trappings.

    But Charlie is always fun to listen to , at least. Good folk musician, too.

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  11. The Jim Jones cult is exactly identical to the cult of white supremacy. Both believed that their beliefs are superior and both are separatist. Both believed a war was going to happen to overthrow their enemies.

    Charles Manson was indeed a white supremacist and the leader of a cult. He even painted the swastika on his forehead.

    White supremacy by definition is a cult.

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  12. Unit 9,

    The Jones group (People's Temple) was made up mostly of black folks.

    You're not going to get much headway trying to paint them as white supremacists.

    BTW, you can listen to the last recording of the People's Temple suicide cult online.

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  13. Borg: You missed my point, I am not trying to say that Jim Jones was a white supremacist. What I am trying to say is that white supremacist are cultist...

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  14. Perhaps I didn't make my point clear enough re-reading what I said. I apologize.

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