Celebrating Dr. King Copyright © 2018 CrossRoadsNews, Inc.
January 13, 2018
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Remembrances befitting a King
Parades, service projects and performances mark holiday All over DeKalb and metro Atlanta, residents young and old, of all races and religions, will gather on streets, in schools and parks, and in places of worship to remember and celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and legacy. In the following pages, we look at some of the parades, church services and service projects where people can join the national celebration.
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Ultimate tribute to legacy
Marching to remember
In service to humanity
Bernice King will deliver the keynote speech at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Ecumenical Service at Ebenezer Baptist Church. B2
People in Lithonia, Conyers, McDonough and the city of Atlanta will parade on Monday to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy. B3
Residents young and old will spread out on Jan. 15 to complete projects in celebration of Dr. King’s commitment to serve. B6, B7
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The ecumenical service is considered the spiritual hallmark of the King Holiday Observance.
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The Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Special Section is a publication of CrossRoadsNews, Atlanta’s award-winning weekly newspaper. Editor / Publisher Jennifer Parker Graphic Design Sharif Ffrench-Williams Reporter Jennifer Ffrench Parker Tekia L. Parks Editorial Intern Rosie Manins
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David Yongi Cho
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Dr. Bernice King to keynote ecumenical service Dr. Bernice King, CEO of the King Center and the youngest daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., will be the keynote speaker at the Jan. 15 annual ecumenical commemorative service honoring her father. King, who like her father is a minister, will speak at the service in the Ebenezer Baptist Church’s Horizon Sanctuary. She was 5 years old when her father, 39, was assassinated on April 4, 1968. The ecumenical service, which is in its 33rd year, is considered the spiritual hallmark of the King Holiday Bernice King Observance. It takes place 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Martin Luther King Jr. Ecumenical Commemorative Service takes place annually on the national holiday created to honor King, in the church where he was baptized as a child, and where he served as co-pastor with his father. It engages members of various religious traditions as well as state, national and international governments. This year’s international greetings will come from Pastor David Yongi Cho of Yoido Full Gospel Church–Assemblies of God in South Korea, and Dr. Deborah Bartlett, GEMS radio CEO, journalist and author from Nassau, Bahamas. Other speakers will include Georgia’s Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. Tributes will be given by filmmaker, activist and musician Bree Newsome; U.S. Hispanic Chamber president and CEO Javier Palomarez; minister and Gen. Robert E. Lee descendant the Rev. Robert Wright Lee; and Ginger Howard, Georgia’s Republican National Committeewoman. The free service will commemorate King’s 89th birthday and is occurring this year on his actual birthday, which coincides with the 2018 National King Holiday. It is open to the public, but seating is limited. The Horizon Sanctuary at Ebenezer Baptist Church is at 101 Jackson St. N.E.
Celebrate the Dreamer On Jan. 15, the nation will observe the 32nd Martin Luther King Jr. Day with volunteer work, parades and speeches. The national holiday celebrates the 89th birthday of King, who was born on Jan. 15, 1929. The Baptist minister led the 1960s civil rights movement that opposed segregation and fought for voting and civil rights for AfricanAmericans. King, who grew up on Auburn Avenue in Atlanta, was assassinated at age 39 on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tenn. Martin Luther King Day, observed the third Monday in January, was first cele-brated in 1986. It was officially observed in all 50 states for the first time in 2000.
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Fourth District Congressman Hank Johnson will be grand marshal for the inaugural MLK Day Celebration to Olde Town Conyers. The DeKalb NAACP’s annual parade kicks off at noon from Green Pastures Christian Church on Flat Shoals Parkway and will terminate in a rally at Martin Luther King Jr. High School.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day parades will take in Lithonia, Conyers, McDonough, and the city of Atlanta.
Area marchers to remember Dr. King in annual parades In a year when the National King Holiday occurs on Dr. Martin Luther King’s actual birthday, thousands will march in remembrance of the civil right’s life and legacy. The 2018 King Holiday on Jan. 15 is the 34th national observance. This year also marks the 50th anniversary of King’s assassination on April 4, 1968. Martin Luther King Jr. parades will take place in Lithonia, Conyers, McDonough and the city of Atlanta. Families, individuals, elected officials, high school marching bands and a host of civil rights, community, civic, social, fraternal, religious and other groups and organizations will march in memory of the late civil rights leader who fought for voting and human rights for African Americans and the beloved community for the nation. The DeKalb NAACP’s 16th annual parade and rally kicks off at noon from Green Pastures Christian Church on Flat Shoals Parkway with high school marching bands, elected officials and dozens of groups and organizations. The parade will terminate at Martin Luther King, Jr. High School for a rally. The theme is “Remembering the Dream, Honoring the Dreamer.” Green Pastures Pastor Collette Gunby will serve as the parade’s grand marshal. Marchers will gather at 10 a.m. in the church’s parking lot. They will make a right on Highway 155 and proceed to King’s high school namesake.
King parade to Olde Town Conyers In Rockdale County, an inaugural MLK Day Celebration to Olde Town Conyers starts at 10 a.m. More than 100 groups, including fraternities, sororities, marching bands from Rockdale, Heritage and Salem high schools, the Rockdale County NAACP, and elected officials will march. Fourth District Congressman Hank Johnson will be the parade’s grand marshal. The mile-long parade, organized by the Rockdale County Think Tank, will commence at noon from Rockdale County High School at 1174 Bulldog Circle N.E. Josie Dean, the Think Tank’s executive director, said the parade is supported by the Rockdale County Board of Commissioners, Conyers City Council, Rockdale School system, Rockdale County Sheriff ’s Department, and Conyers Police. After the parade, an MLK program with singing and performances will take place in the county auditorium at 103 Main St. Twenty awards will be handed out to organizations and individuals who have defended Dr. King’s legacy. Dean said newly retired Conyers Mayor Randy Mills, the NCNW, Iflat Walker, Gerald Rose and Muddessar Ahmad will be recognized. The NCNW is getting the Organization of the Year Award. Walker will get the John Evans Activist Award; Rose, the Community Service award; and Ahmad, the Rockdale County Good Samaritan Award. For more information, email rockdalecountythinktank@gmail.com or call 770369-1507.
Atlanta parade at 1:45 p.m. In the city of Atlanta, marchers will gather at 1:15 p.m. at the intersection of Peachtree and Baker streets for the 2018 Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Commemorative March and Rally. It kicks off at 1:45 p.m. after the annual King Day Service at Ebenezer Baptist Church. Marchers will make a left on Auburn Avenue and head to The King Center for the rally.
Four mayors in Henry parade In Henry County, a parade of mayors will serve as grand marshals for the county’s eighth annual Martin Luther King Jr. Parade and Peace March on Jan. 15. The mayors of Hampton, Locust Grove, McDonough and Stockbridge – Steve Hutchison, Robert Price, Billy Copeland and Anthony S. For – are expected to participate.
Paraders will line up at 9 a.m. and the parade will kick off at 10 a.m. at the Henry County Performing Arts Center on Lemon Street in McDonough. A King Day Celebration featuring attorney Gerald Griggs will take place at 11 a.m., at the performing arts center. Griggs is chairman of the Georgia NAACP Criminal Justice Committee and a vice president of the Atlanta NAACP.
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Simmons started the Hate Won’t Win Movement to create a more culturally cohesive society that appreciates and celebrates differences.
King Center saluting six for channeling his activist ideals
By Jennifer Ffrench Parker
The six recipients of the 2018 King Center’s Salute to Greatness Awards include two politicians, an activist for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s beloved community, a renowned author and educator, a food manufacturer and a volunteer organization shaping today’s youth. The awardees are U.S. Sen. Corey Booker; Hate Won’t Win Movement founder Alana Simmons; educator and author Dr. Robert Green; San Juan, Puerto Rico, Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz; and organizations Chobani and the Boys & Girls Club of America. All six will be celebrated at the gala, the King Center’s premier fundraising initiative. Each year, during its King Week celebrations of the civil rights leader, the Center recognizes national and international individuals and corporations that exemplify excellence in leadership and commitment to social responsibility in the spirit of Dr. King. The Salute to Greatness Gala takes place 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Jan. 13 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Atlanta. On Jan. 15, Dr. King’s 89th birthday, the nation will commemorate his life and legacy with a day of service projects.
Advocate for justice reform Booker, who has represented New Jersey in the Senate since October 2013, is the gala’s Individual Honoree. He is a Rhodes Scholar, lawyer, and former Newark city councilman and mayor. In the Senate, Booker is seen as an innovative and bi-partisan problem solver, and has emerged as a national leader in the Congressional push for common sense criminal
Corey Booker
Alana Simmons
justice reform. He advocates for front-end sentencing reforms, pushes for the banning of juvenile solitary confinement in federal facilities, and has spearheaded legislation to make the hiring process fairer for the formerly incarcerated. He has also partnered with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to create economic proposals ranging from increased small business investment to apprenticeship programs to help foster greater economic mobility and opportunity for Americans.
Hate Won’t Win Simmons, the CEO and founder of the Hate Won’t Win Movement, is the recipient of the Coretta Scott King A.N.G.E.L Youth Award, which recognizes a young person ages 12 to 29 who exemplifies exceptional leadership in areas of peace, social justice and nonviolent social change. Simmons, 26, founded HATE Won’t Win after white supremacist Dylann Roof shot and killed her grandfather, the Rev. Daniel L. Simmons Sr., the church’s pastor and seven other parishioners in the June 17, 2015, massacre at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C.
Robert Green
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She rose to national prominence after President Barack Obama tweeted a picture promoting her “hatewontwin” campaign that encourages people to show acts of love and kindness to those who differ from themselves and to post their acts of kindness on social media. Simmons’ website says she started the Hate Won’t Win Movement to create a more culturally cohesive society that appreciates and celebrates differences instead of allowing them to divide us. The movement’s nine initiatives focus on awareness, healing and equity, and honoring victims of hate crimes. Green, an author, educator, civil rights activist, and Michigan State University dean and professor emeritus, is getting the Christine King Farris Legacy of Service Award, which recognizes an individual with a lifelong history of service and values based on King’s leadership and philosophy of nonviolence. He is a nationally known scholar, an expert on education, urban development and issues related to diversity, and organizer of school reform initiatives. Green is the author of 10 books on a range of subjects including expectations in education, student achievement, black male achievement, education equity, and poverty and race. Green worked for Dr. King as the education director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Cruz, who has been mayor of San Juan since November 2012, slammed the U.S. government’s response to Hurricane Maria’s devastation of Puerto Rico on Sept. 20, 1917. She will receive the gala’s Special Recognition Award for Humanitarian Leadership. Nine days after the hurricane, Cruz made an emotional plea for help at a Sept. 29 press conference and accused President Donald Trump and his administration of “inefficiency.” “I am begging you. Begging anyone that can hear us to save us from dying,” she said. “If anybody out there is listening, we
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are dying. And you are killing us with the inefficiency.” Cruz is a former member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives.
Organizations honored Greek yogurt maker Chobani is the Salute to Greatness Gala’s Corporate Honoree. The company’s Turkish-born founder and CEO Hamdi Ulukaya will receive the award. Ulukaya launched Chobani in 2005 after stumbling on a for-sale classified ad for a yogurt plant recently closed by Kraft. The company’s website says he perfected the recipe for Chobani yogurt on the belief that everyone, regardless of income or location, deserve access to delicious, high-quality yogurt. Eighteen months later, the company’s first yogurts went on the market and within two years, Chobani was America’s #1 yogurt. Today the company also sells dips and drinks and it is one of the U.S.’s largest snack companies. The Boys & Girls Clubs of America is getting the A.N.G.E.L Youth Organization Award. President and CEO James L. Clark will accept the award. BGCA, made up of a network of 4,300 clubs, serve nearly 4 million youths annually in all 50 states, in large cities and small towns, in public housing and on Native lands, and on U.S. military installations across the globe. More than 50,000 professional staff members operate the clubs, which are supported by more than 285,000 board and program volunteers. Under Clark’s leadership, BGCA has introduced innovative programming like state-of-the-art STEM initiatives and Brain Gain, a program to combat summer learning loss. In a 2015 national survey, 73 percent of low-income boys and girls ages 12 to 17 who attend clubs regularly say they earn mostly As and Bs, compared with 69 percent of lowincome youth nationally.
New Bethel youth to celebrate in song, dance and spoken word performances
New Bethel AME youth will celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Jan. 14.
New Bethel AME Church’s YPD “The Chosen Generation” will celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in song, dance and spoken word on Jan. 14 at the church’s 2018 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration, themed “Black Excellence – The Dream Lives.” Carol McNeil, New Bethel’s Publicity
Committee chair, said the event, which starts at 11 a.m., will honor King’s life and legacy. The free community event is sponsored annually by New Bethel’s Lay Organization. The church is at 8350 Rockbridge Road in Lithonia. For more information visit www.cbtwatl. org/ or call 770-484-3350.
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MACY’S JOINS
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Volunteers are encouraged to bring hammers, saws, drills, rakes, clippers and other yard work implements.
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Home repairs for seniors among King Day service projects
‘Say that I tried to love and serve humanity’
Volunteers with the nonprofit Community Center for South Decatur (CCSD), in partnership with the city of Decatur. will make minor home repairs in the Oakhurst neighborhood on Jan, 13-15.
Hundreds of skilled carpenters, painters, plumbers, landscapers, gardeners and others who just want to help out will be doing minor repairs on the homes of seniors over the Jan. 13-15 King Holiday weekend. The MLK Service Project, which is in its 16th year, is sponsored by the nonprofit Community Center for South Decatur (CCSD) in partnership with the city of Decatur. It is supported by grants and private financial and in-kind donations. Volunteers will work on the homes of senior citizens in Oakhurst, making repairs on roofs, gutters, doors and floors and doing yard work that elderly homeowners have been unable to do themselves or afford. Lee Ann Harvey, the project’s volunteer
coordinator, says that each year more than 1,100 volunteers work on the project. Volunteers will work in shifts from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Jan. 13; 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Jan. 14; and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Jan. 15. They are asked to select the shift they will work when they sign up. At the end of the final shift on Jan. 15, all volunteers will be celebrated at a cookout at 5 p.m. Organizers say that a limited number of tools and work gloves will be available, but volunteers are encouraged to bring hammers, saws, drills, and other tools; rakes, clippers and other yard work implements, and because tools look alike, they should be marked for identification purposes. To make the project more environmen-
“If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. And every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize – that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards – that’s not important. Tell them not to Martin Luther King Jr. mention where I went to school. I’d like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to give his life serving others. I’d like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to love somebody. I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked. I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity.� – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Feb. 4, 1968, Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta
Martin Luther King Day service projects run the gamut from leaf and litter cleanups (left and above) to home repairs for seniors and lowincome residents.
tally friendly, volunteers are also encouraged bring reusable water bottles. Volunteers younger than 18 must have a parent or guardian sign a release form and bring it with them to the project. Each day, volunteers will meet at least a half-hour before shifts’ start at the Solarium, 321 W. Hill St. in the Oakhurst section of
Decatur. To volunteer to make home repairs, do yard work, help with logistics, or assist the food committee, contact Lee Ann Harvey at 770-652-8593 or leeann.harvey@decaturga. com. To register and for more information, visit www.decaturga.com/mlk.
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The cemetery is the final resting place for more than 70,000 African-Americans.
GSU students to perform service projects in DeKalb, Atlanta
Hundreds Georgia State University students will paint, clean, and garden in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on his 89th birthday on Jan. 15. The students will participate in King Day service projects in Stone Mountain, Decatur and Atlanta as part of GSU’s Civic Engagement Program. Projects in DeKalb County start at 8:30 a.m. at the Rock of Ages Lutheran Church, 5135 Memorial Drive in Stone Mountain. At 10 a.m., students will help with garden maintenance at the GSU’s Decatur campus community garden and at the Native Plant Botanical Garden at 3251 Panthersville Road in Decatur. Students will also do ML King Service Projects in Atlanta. They will work with the Westside Volunteer Corps on the Salvation Army’s Bellwood Boys & Girls Club Revitalization at 777 Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway N.W., and will sort donated school supplies at Booker T. Washington High School, 45 Whitehouse Drive S.W. At the Boys & Girls Club, students will join other volunteers in painting, building furniture, mulching plants and undertaking Georgia State students will participate in service projects such as plant maintenance at other outdoor beautification. the Decatur campus community garden and at the Native Plant Botanical Garden. The Westside Corps is collecting socks, Donated items will be distributed to it https://www.amazon.com/registry/ Students can still sign up to volunteer. For underwear, pencils, crayons, markers, composition books and other school supplies schools in the Washington High School wishlist/2CRIR2QMFZJMR/ref=cm_sw_r_ more information, e-mail civivengagement@ Cluster. For a list of needed items, vis- cp_ep_ws_FfhfAb1T7RFY5 gsu.edu or visit service.gsu.edu. through Jan. 15.
Trees and flowers to be planted at King’s 1st burial site Kirkwood More than 60 volunteers are expected Neighbors to plant trees, bulbs and other flowers at South-View Cemetery on Martin Luther cleaning Clay King Jr. Day on Jan. 15. The 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. service project, sponsored by the South-View Cemetery Cemetery Association, Trees Atlanta and HandsOn Atlanta, will take place in the children’s burial areas. South-View Cemetery, at 1990 Jonesboro Road S.E. in Atlanta, was the original burial site of civil rights icon the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. before his body was relocated to a crypt at the King Center on Auburn Avenue. Volunteers for the service project will include members of Decatur-based Greenforest Baptist Church. The cemetery of more than 100 acres was founded in 1886 by nine former slaves who were barred from whites-only graveyards. The South-View Cemetery Association is the oldest African-American not-forprofit corporation in the United States.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was buried at SouthView Cemetery in April 1968, before his body was relocated to its current resting place at the King Center on Auburn Avenue.
The cemetery is the final resting place for more than 70,000 African-Americans, and others buried there regardless of race or religion. King was originally interred there on April 9, 1968. In 1977, his remains were relocated to the King Center by his widow, Coretta Scott King, who founded the center to honor him. King’s parents, Martin Luther King Sr., who died on Nov. 11, 1984, and Alberta King, who died June 30, 1974, are buried at
South-View. The service project, which will be held on the 34th anniversary of the National Martin Luther King Holiday, is celebrating King’s life and legacy. Breakfast and lunch will be provided. Volunteer opportunities are still available for those 18 years and older. Kids younger than 18 must be accompanied by an adult. For more information or to volunteer, visit http://southviewcemetery.com/ or call 404-622-5393.
More than two dozen volunteers will rake leaves and pick up in trash at the historic Clay Cemetery in Atlanta on Jan. 15. The service project, which is sponsored by Kirkwood Neighbors Organization, takes place 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The cemetery, which dates to the 1800s, was integrated in the 1950s, long before Kirkwood’s schools. Children as young as 10 years old can volunteer in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose 89th birthday and the 2018 National King Holiday will be Jan. 15. Clay Cemetery is at 31 Clifton St. N.E., Atlanta 30317. For more information, visit https://www.historic-kirkwood.org/ or https://claycemetery.org/
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