Asheboro honors MLK
Service, march, tree-planting mark civil right leader's day
By J.D. Walker
Staff Writer, The Courier-Tribune
ASHEBORO - Many area residents spent Monday in celebration of the life
and work of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., honoring the civil rights leader
with a breakfast gathering, a public march, tree planting and culminating
in a memorial service Monday night at the Greater St. John Baptist Church.
In an evening prayer, the Rev. John Butler call it a long day of celebration
of the legacy of a justice seeker.
The day began in the Eastside community at the Central Gym where the
county's Boys and Girls Club is now housed. Guest speaker was the Rev. Raymond
Reid. He was accompanied by the Vision of Unity singers.
The march, an annual event, took place through the community as over
100 people on foot and in cars completed a square by walking along Brewer,
Watkins, Frank and Loach Streets.
At 1 p.m., roughly 50 children and 20 adults came together for a large
tree planting and community art project at Eastside Park. Trees Asheboro
organizer Tim Womick said the group planted 18 crepe myrtles in the park.
The trees were purchased with a donation from First National Bank in
Asheboro.
A community art project, involving stenciled paintings on the sidewalks,
was temporarily delayed due to the cold weather. The art material would
not adhere to the sidewalks. Womick said he hopes to complete the project
before the end of Black History Month in February.
Womick said the most moving moment for him was when the group was asked
for comments at the end of the tree planting. At that time, Womick said
Dr. Wesley Fennell, a retired public health veterinarian with the U.S. Department
of Agriculture, spoke of his experiences as a young student at Tuskegee
University in Alabama in the 1960s.
Fennell told the children he knew about the civil rights marches but
didn't participate. Womick said Fennell admitted he was too afraid. But
he urged the children to remember they have the power and they should never
be afraid to do what is right.
Fennell's sentiment was echoed later in the evening by the Rev. George
McCormick, guest preacher at the memorial service at Greater St. John Baptist
Church.
McCormick, a former deacon at the church, called King a man who made
mountains move; a man dedicated to uplifting humanity through non-violent
means.
He urged the congregation to remember King's legacy in their daily lives.
"The greatest tribute you can pay him," he said, "is to
carry on his work."
Copyright 2002, Stephens Media Group
|