About 200 people filled the wood pews of the more than 100-year-old Greene Street Presbyterian Church on Tuesday evening, listening to testimonials about why the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s teachings remain relevant today.
Tuesday marked what would have been the 79th birthday of Dr. King, the civil rights leader from Georgia who was assassinated in Memphis 40 years ago April 4.
The event was sponsored by the Progressive Religious Coalition of Augusta, a group of clergy and others of different faiths who meet monthly to promote respect among area interfaith traditions.
Keynote speaker Mike McCullen talked about Dr. King, "a man of God" who, he said, according to FBI documents, was labeled a threat and the "most dangerous man in America."
"He was considered a threat, because he didn't fear death and he could motivate and educate the masses," Mr. McCullen said.
Debbi Brooks, a coalition member and event co-organizer, described the capacity-filled sanctuary as racially and religiously diverse.
Rabbi Robert Klensin, of the Congregation Children of Israel Jewish Temple, talked briefly about the historical significance of Jewish support in connection with civil rights gains of the 1950s and 1960s.
He said he hoped such events as the one Tuesday would someday help the country become "one nation under God with liberty and justice for all."
Ms. Brooks said she hopes the event is offered each year.
Natalie Davis Ferguson, a Savannah River Site engineer, complimented the spirited vocals from the Tabernacle Baptist Church Praise Team and agreed that the event should continue annually, noting that the gathering reminded people of what Dr. King stood for.
"Tonight provided a seed for us to continue Dr. King's message. We all have a role when it comes to peace and kindness and making the world better for everyone," she said. "Dr. King's message will always be relevant."
Reach Timothy Cox at (706) 823-3217 or tim.cox@augustachronicle.com.
UPCOMING MLK EVENTS
FREEDOM MARCH: 10-11:30 a.m. Thursday; begins at Good Shepherd Chapel, Building 29608, Barnes Avenue, ends at reviewing stand, Barton Field; melvin.slater@us.army.mil
Comments
Dr King had a lot of good to offer and was a positive influence on the community. The perverted and distorted view of King's work by Jesse Jackson did tremendous harm to the black community and was a blight on King's legacy. A return to King's teachings would be a wonderful step forward.
Having lived in the 60s in South Carolina and Georgia I met very few white people who had anything positive to say about Dr King at that time. It is amazing how much death and distance change opinions. His legacy didn't seem so assured then.
Every man of God needs a mistress
Even forty years after his death,he still endures indignities from the ignorant. Jesse ,has not done half as much as persistent bigots. They are full of rhetoric, but the truth is what's coming from their hearts.Yeah Trunkin Ranger, you need to wake up.Johnson I would like to see your proof, otherwise your insinuation is called libel.America, not just blacks, still has a long way to go.
My second grade son came home yesterday with some of that MLK junk.I told him about the files the FBI had on Martin with his womanizing ways and threw his papers in the trash...........
Glascock1, that's why the world is the way it is, because hate is taught in homes like yours.Real sad, I feel sorry for the kid.That's why Dr. King has a holiday and a monument in the nations capitol.Losers like you, will be forgotten.
When Martin Luther King, Jr. emerged as the leader of the a Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955, he began a long tenure as the spokesperson for nonviolent protest in the Civil Rights Movement. As a Baptist minister, he was a moral leader to the community. Plus, he was charismatic and had a powerful way of speaking. He was also a man of vision and determination. He never stopped dreaming of what could be.
Yet he was a man, not a God. He was most often overworked and overtired. And he had a fondness for the private company of women. And though he was the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize winner, he did not have complete control over the Civil Rights Movement.
Jennifer Rosenberg Historian University of California at Davis
RCR, I don't teach hate,only the truth.YOU can't handle the truth.........
No matter what you say, Dr. Martin Luther King was a better man than ten thousand of you racist bigots.What they need to be doing, is rounding up them racist murderers who committed heinous crimes against blacks. Token jestures 50 years after the fact, is not justice at all.If all this evidence is held by the govrnment, why do we have holidays and monuments?If it was true, no doubt they would have brought it forth.They will do anything to discredit blacks.
Baroness, save your so called righteousness.You still jumping to whites defense.Nothing but a lackey!!!!!!
Appeasement
Richmond County Resident, why not counter with SUBSTANCE? If you do your homework, you'll find that the womanzing claim is actually true. Your 'shouting down' tactics were/are used by the very people you espouse as racist murderers. For you to deny the man's faults is tantamount to hero worship & you know what the Lord says about worshipping ANYONE or anything but HIM, right?
Blacks discredit themselves when the news shows the Gilbert Manor briefing and the whole room is full of blacks............
Jshep67, no I don't worship Dr. King or any man.As far as substance that is clearly in the eye of the beholder.No matter who they talk about Vick, Bonds, Jackson, Sharpton, Walker, Larke , Few,Bedden or King, most of you guys comments are predictable. I will say once and for all.You would be hard pressed to find a black that do not like Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton, I don't have a problem with them no matter what you say.We have been ostracized enough, that what you say does not matter anymore.Johnson, Gilbert Manor and all the projects in Augusta does not hold 20% of the blacks here.What about the trailer parks and poor areas that are predominaetly white.Like I say people like you perpetuate racism.
RCR,Don't forget O.J. and Michael Jackson(who has spent millions trying to turn himself white).
I know you meant Glascock1. My children are taught tolerance. Views of the current generation will never change.
If Obama wins,will he:
Put 22 inch rims on the Presidential Limo?
Interrupt important meetings to check his Cash 3 numbers?
Cause an international crisis when he informs a foreign head of state that he wants to "axe" him something?
Thanks Glascock1, you just proved my point.Ignorant fools like you are a disgrace to humanity.Baroness, this is the kind of trash you keep trying to defend.
RCR, The 22 inch rim joke as well as the "axe" one,I got from Chris Rock,who is also black..................
the white boys on washington rd have 20 and 22 inch rims. So whats your point. Just drive down washington rd. On friday or saturday nights. In the sonic or the parking lot behind hooters. Glascock1 is why so many young white kids. Hate being white, and dissociated with whites. Especially older whites. Glascock 1 is nothing more than a bigot. His or her child will hang a nose or call a black person a n word. Then her child probably will cause a fight. But i bet just like the parents of the kids in jena. Who hung the nooses. She will say oh know im not a racist. I would never teach my kids those things. What a idiot, i hope the black kids beat your child up real bad. And im white. Christopher columbus killed and raped many native americans Babe ruth was a womanizer and drug addict. Elvis drug addict and womanizer. Yet white people love all three. Not all whites of course. Just whites like glascok1. Oh and glascock. where im from in florida. Go to the trailer parks where its junk cars, trash, and a big dump. In florida not even ga or miss or ala where its worse. It will be nothing but white people. And last time i check its whites who tan their skin to become darker loser
May I suggest a GED program for you Jonnneee?
GED---------- Good Enough Diploma
Well Glaskcock1, I would never make racist jokes about whites, because they will be taken as racial.Just like blacks will take your jokes as racial.Jonnneee has a right to say what he is saying, because this his experience as a white.If you were black, you can't say you wouldn't look up to someone like Dr. Martin Luther King. He got killed and he never hurt anybody black or white.Stop trying to tell us how we should feel.You haven't walked in our shoes. I grew up in the projects, because that was all we could afford.Today, I own 300,000 dollars worth of real estate here in Augusta.Never kick someone when they are down,you never know what they will become.
I'm with YOU RichCouRes.., now wouldn't you like to HANG ON to what you've EARNED with blood sweat & tears? I sure would. By the way, I admire Dr King & am a white man. But I don't WORSHIP him like MANY folks do.
PT--That message could start with you. Stop making broad general statements about the "Black Community." What is the Black community? Who is in the Black community? Are you a part of the Black community? Have you taken a poll of these people you have labelled the Black community?
Is there a White comminity? Who are their leaders? Whose behavior has had a negative effect on the White community?
Hitler, Jeffrey Dahamier? Ted Bundy? Richard Nixon ?
There is no such thing as a single Black community; you are so out of touch--that one Black guy from the cup factory is not a good source. You sound like your mentor Bill O'Reilly; " And they were eating just like normal White people..."
Glascock1, every time you post you just show complete ignorance. I don't know if what you are posting is how you actually feel or you are trying to get a response. All have fall short and that includes you. I work with all nationalities and believe me when it comes down to it, We are are just people with a sinful nature. But enough with black, white, or any other race the postings could go on forever. What a shame in a country that so advance in technology cannot succumb to love.
RCR, Go back and read my original post.I simply stated how I balanced the rhetoric my child heard at school about how great Luther was with the truth.You then started with the name calling,which is a defense mechanism for those who possess little intellect and or have a weak argument.As far as my "quit telling you how to feel" lol,where have I done that?The truth is,per capita,blacks commit more crime,receive more government assistance,have more unwed mothers,etc.etc. These are facts..........
I pity poor ole Glascock1. He has a big problem and unable to solve it and he wants to take it out on blacks. I hope his son will grow up to be different.
Yes, Martin Luther King was a great man and he had his faults, and I am sure he sinned also. He was human and all of us humans have sinned.
Let all of us love each othr and we will make our society much better.
Hate has no place in the good ole USA!
I always apprecieate a different point of view. Tomorrow let's talk about the peace loving religion of Islam
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