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By Priscilla Greear
Staff Writer
ATLANTA-Civil rights history came alive for students at Immaculate Heart of
Mary School as Martin Luther King III spoke Feb. 9 on his father's social
justice legacy and his experiences as the son of a radical preacher's kid.
King spoke to students from kindergarten through eighth grade and to parents
as part of Black History Month. He was invited and introduced by his friend
Joyce Gray, whose child attends IHM. A human rights advocate, community
activist and political leader, King is president of Southern Christian
Leadership Conference, which his father co-founded in 1957 to secure equal
opportunities for all people. He speaks worldwide on Dr. King's goals in
today's society. Committed to the development of youth, he initiated youth
programs including the "King Summer Intern Program" for high school
students and "A Call to Manhood," to give young African-American
males positive role models.
Following welcoming remarks by Principal Karen Russ, King said the King
holiday is observed in over 23 countries.
"Why is it that a man who did a lot of his work in the state of
Alabama, where I was born, (and) ... in seven or eight states, (has made an
impact that) has been phenomenal throughout our nation and the world ?"
The answer is his message of love and justice for all in a segregated
society. "He believed in trying to create opportunity for all God's
children but he focused a lot on the least of these who had no one to speak for
them, those who primarily had been left out of the system," he said.
While his father, Dr. King, traveled daily, King, who has three siblings,
said that on Sundays his family would pray together and discuss his father's
campaigns to fight racial inequality and other social injustices. In 1968, Dr.
King was killed in Memphis while leading a protest for sanitation workers; his
last campaign was the Poor People's Campaign. King spoke of Rosa Parks who, in
1955, refused to give up her bus seat to a white person. "When she sat
down men and women of good will, blacks and whites all over our nation, were
able to stand up ... were able to join hands and say we're not able to take
these things that don't seem to be fair and we're going to try to change our
nation."
Another injustice in Montgomery was that after blacks gave bus drivers their
money and got off the bus to reenter from the rear, the drivers would leave.
Dr. King and others organized a campaign where blacks, 50 percent of bus
riders, quit riding them.
"It eventually created a situation where everybody could ride buses
wherever they chose. It was one of the steps that helped to make our nation a
better place for all God's children. Those were the kinds of campaigns that MLK
Jr. was involved in all his life," said his son, now 42.
Progress was made. In 1964 the Civil Rights Act was passed, in 1965 now Rep.
John Lewis and Rev. Hosea Williams took part in a march that led to federal
protection of blacks' voting rights and in 1968 the government passed fair
housing legislation.
King said his father was determined to build individuals and communities on
solid foundations. "Most of what he did was to make sure that all people
were treated the same way in our nation. He and his teams did a lot of planning
... because in life you have to build things on a strong foundation," he
said.
His family now carries on that torch of truth at Atlanta's MLK Center for
Nonviolent Social Change and elsewhere. "We still have a lot of poverty.
We still have something called racism in America and violence is at a level
we've never experienced before in our nation. So we've got to find a way ... to
coexist with all other human beings because this planet is getting smaller and
smaller."
He challenged youth to become peace warriors, saying that youth today act
violently because they're burned by a flaming, violent culture and that
"something is wrong in a nation that has so much wealth but that also has
so much poverty." And it only takes a few good men and women to quench the
fires of injustice, as most of his father's demonstrations, which started with
only 50-75 people, brought change for the entire nation.
Referring to Dr. King's "Levels of Love" speech, he said their
weapon is the highest love called agape, which "seeks nothing in return,
which is totally unselfish ...You love them (others) because God loves you and
we're called to do that."
He learned as a boy the importance of loving self, as only then can one
begin to love neighbor, and to love family and community. Most important is to
love God.
"If you leave here remembering love of self, love of family, love of
community, love of God, those are tools that I believe will help you achieve
success within your life."
And don't forget love of neighbor includes enemies. King said he could
easily harbor hatred, as his grandfather was gunned down, and so was his
grandmother, in church while praying the Lord's Prayer. "It's so easy to
become bitter but we have to reject bitterness ... We have to broaden our
horizons. We have the responsibility to acquire knowledge all our lives, to
master reading."
He told youth to shoot for the stars. "I hope that you aim high and set
your goals for your life as high as you can because you can achieve anything
that you believe that you can. It starts with the heart and the mind. It starts
with foundation ... If you discipline yourself as you go through school, school
is not as challenging or difficult -- if you get in the habit of
studying," he said, adding that his dad even got to skip three grades for
hard work.
In addition to black history, it's also important, he continued, to study
all ethnic groups in this country, like the Hispanics, and to master foreign
languages.
Prayer is also a key to making the grade. It sustained his family after his
father's assassination when they wondered if the world would end.
"I'm thankful for my faith because as a small child my mother taught us
how to pray because prayer changes things. Prayer works," he said.
"When prayer was taken out of school, guns were brought to school. Always
take God with you. When you're studying biology God is there because he made
you and me."
Responding to questions, King said he's passionate about affirmative action,
which provides employment opportunities to qualified persons who historically
have been excluded. It not only benefits blacks but others such as white women.
He said the Confederate emblem doesn't belong on Georgia and South Carolina
flags, as it's not unifying and represents the racist and exclusionary South.
The SCLC cancelled a convention in South Carolina to protest the flag issue and
over 200 organizations followed.
Growing up in the segregated South, he said he too was teased at school as
classmates called his dad a jailbird. "That was very painful, but my
mother explained to us that my dad is making this nation a better place for all
God's children. I'd come back to school and say, 'my dad's trying to make this
nation a better place.'"
He spent high-quality, low-quantity time with his dad doing things like
biking, and a perk of family time was travelling with his dad where he'd get to
ride in police cars and play with the sirens. He admired his father's patience
and compassion.
"I'd see him walk through crowds and he always had time for anybody no
matter who they were. He taught me to have compassion for others, to always be
considerate of others," he said. "He tried to teach people how to
live here together without destroying personal property and how to communicate
with one another. He broke down racial barriers so that human beings respected
each other," and added, "He was able to create ... a consciousness in
this nation and raise that consciousness so that human beings have respect for
one another."
Following the talk, eighth-grader Vida Asiegbu said she was inspired to
reach her potential. "(The message) was an inspiration for me to excel as
an African-American at this school. It gives me inspiration to be the best I
can be as a colored person," she said. "Today I learned that he (Dr.
King) is more of a father figure for African-Americans today because he was the
one who brought us out of segregation and helps us today."
Fourth-grader Charlie Rhodes also was ready to buckle down. He liked the
message of how "you should love your family and love your class and stuff
like that ... I think that is important to all of us."
Russ said King's visit was the highlight of Black History Month. "We're
just very fortunate to have had that experience, something that I think they
can relate to. He was very personal. It was obvious that he does practice what
he preaches. His goodness just showed through everything he said," she
said. "I really liked his emphasis on all God's children. Our school ...
is pretty diverse. Thirty percent of our students are not white Americans"
which contributes to the school's racial harmony.
Dr. Sandra Smith, superintendent of schools, was honored to hear King speak,
as she has a deep appreciation for his father's work and lived in Washington
during the Poor People's March. She hopes to have King speak to a larger
Catholic student gathering and added, "I really appreciated his choosing
to talk to the children of how first you must love self, you must love family
and love community and to love God. I think that message coming from him was so
significant in our Catholic school."
Social studies teacher Blanca Harrington said his message "gave them a
feeling of hope. He talked about issues that are still with us that need to be
worked on. I think he's challenging them to find the answers in this
millennium. He said a lot of healing words in times that are so cruel and
vicious."
The students' participation in the question-answer portion touched on a lot
of topics, Harrington said.
"What they heard is that we all need to be charitable in our attitudes
towards others. It was also a time for them to discuss the issue of the state
flag. It's been a big issue. I like the question about affirmative action.
These are all things we've talked about in class," she said, adding that
some students were only disappointed that they didn't get to squeeze in their
questions to King.
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