Local News - January 2004

Celebrants recall the ‘dream’

Parade, speeches mark holiday

By SARAH GRANO, Staff Writer

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Lincoln County residents celebrated the birth of Martin Luther King Jr. through performance, prayer and a parade down Main Street on Monday.

Many spent the day with friends and family remembering a time when black people faced physical violence if they refused to accept being second class citizens.

They also remembered the dream King spoke of during the March on Washington. 

“Would he expect his dream to bear fruit in a little place called Lincoln County, better known for apples than for tolerance?” asked Beatrice Thompson,  a radio and television personality who spoke at the Citizens Center.

“You are the reality that he called a dream.”

She told the crowd that she remembered a time when news from Lincoln County often involved black people being terrorized.

“It does take the strongest to survive,” Thompson said. “I may look at you as the strongest because you did not leave.”

Many who celebrated Martin Luther King Day spoke of the work still ahead of them.

“We’ve got a long way to go, as you said in your prayer, but we’re working on it,” said Jerry Cochrane, chairman of the Board of Commissioners in his speech at the Citizens Center.

This was the first year all county offices in Lincoln County were closed in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. day.

Many children who had the day off from school attended a children’s program at Providence Baptist Church.

Ministers urged youth to remember the struggles their parents and grandparents went through to grant them the rights they enjoy today.

“Some of us don’t want to remember because back then it was so painful to be black in America,” said the Rev. Walvery Williams.

“You’ve got to understand this, young people. It was hard back in the day. It wasn’t any of this ‘The teacher don’t like me’ mess. They hated us.”

After listening to speeches, children from area churches sang, danced and one young man even acted out Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. The crowd gave many standing ovations and shouted many “amens.”

“I’m just holding the door,” said Brandon Wright, who volunteered his services at the performance. Wright wanted to do his part to honor King.

“He kept on fighting and fighting for us blacks to be as free as whites,” Wright said.

Many of those churches involved in the children’s performance also participated in the parade.

Prayer and Christianity took the forefront throughout many of the day’s celebrations.

“We’re here to celebrate Jesus, but we’re going to honor Martin Luther King,” Frankie Reinhardt told the audience at Providence Baptist Church.

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Staff Writer Sarah Grano can be reached at 704-735-3031 or sgrano@ltnews.com

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© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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