King’s birthday celebrated
On what would have been his 88th birthday, Martin Luther King Jr. was remembered and celebrated at John Wesley United Methodist Church in Washington Sunday with song and reflections on his towering achievements.
Sponsored by the Washington branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the service, which was attended by about 100 people, was one of many events scheduled throughout the region and around the country both Sunday and today to commemorate King. Today is the national King holiday.
King was “a man who needs no introduction,” according to the Rev. Deborah L. Mason, pastor of John Wesley United Methodist Church. “He was a man who was taken too soon, but what a life he left.”
Mason then noted African- Americans were no longer subject to the indignities of separate drinking fountains, hotels and restaurants, among other things, as a result of the leadership of King and other pioneers in the civil rights movement.
“The legacy still lives,” Mason added.
State Rep. Brandon Neuman, D-North Strabane, pointed out King was murdered when he was just 39 and he achieved greatness at a relatively young age. “He did not die in vain,” Neuman said. “We will continue to celebrate what he did for our country.”
The keynote speaker at the celebration was the Rev. Louis Ridgley, pastor at Wright Memorial AME Zion Church in Washington. He recounted King’s history, from his days growing up in Atlanta, through his days attending Crozer Theological Seminary near Philadelphia and then his leadership at the forefront of the civil rights movement while he was a pastor in Montgomery, Ala.
He also explained that King and the civil rights movement of 50 years ago did not resolve all of America’s struggles with race.
“We’re all in this together,” Ridgley said. “And it’s going to take all of us working together. We’re all in the same boat.”
NAACP officers and executive committee members were also installed at the event, and the men’s choir of Friendship Baptist Church in Washington performed.