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Page 2 About ALl West Alabama P elI OCT I order Thursday, January -1-2; 20t2
Martin Luther King, Jr,
January 15, 1929 -
April 4, 1968
Martin Luther King, Jr.
(J~uary 15. 1929- April 4,
1968) was an American clergy-
man. activist, and prominent
leader in the African-American
Civil Rights Movement. He is
best known for being an icomc
figure in the advancement of
civil rights in the United States
and around the world, using
nonviolent methods following
the teachings of Mahatma
Gandhi. King has become a
national icon in the history of
modem American liberalism.
A Baptist minister. King
became a civil rights activist
early in his career. He led the
1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott
and helped found the Southern
Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC) in 1957•
serving as its first president.
King's efforts led to the 1963
March on Washington. where
King delivered his "I Have a
Dream" speech. There. he
expanded American values to
include the vtsion of a color
blind society, and established
his reputation as one of the
greatest orators in American
history.
In 1964. King became the
youngest person to receive the
Nobel Peace Prize for his work
to end racial segregation and
racial discrimination through
civil disobedience and other
nonviolent means. By the time
of his death in 1968. he had
refocused his efforts on ending
poverty and stopping the
Vietnam War.
King was assassinated on
April 4. !968, inMemphis,
Tennessee• He was posthu-
mously awarded the
Presidential Medal of Freedom
in 1977 and Congressional
Gold Medal in 2004: Martin
Luther King, Jr. Day was estab-
lished as a U.S. federal holiday
in 1986.
hi
The Dr. Martin L. King, Jr.
6th Annual Scholarship
Program will be held with the
South Marengo County
Ministerial Alliance. on
Monday, January 16. 11:00
a.m. at Rockbabylon Baptist
ChurcE 4551 Highway
43South. Dixons Mills.
Rev. Fred D. Moore• pastor
of Christian Chapel Baptist
Church in Demopolis. will be
the Guest Speaker
Financial donations are
welcomed. Churches and
Organizations are asked to
please help us this year by
submitting your donations
payable to King Unity
Scholarship, c/o Aggie Perry,
Treasurer. 60 Aspen Street
Gallion, AL 36742
You can contact Ms. Perry
at 334 -295-5261 or 334/289-
5603: William Martin,
Scholarship Selection Team
Leader. 2501 Highway 43
Demopolis. AL: 334-289-
4812: Contact Annie
Robertson for general infor-
mation 334-295-5261
I am happy to join with you
today in what will go down in
history as the greatest demon-
stration for freedom in the his-
tory of our nation.
Five score years ago, a
great American. in whose
symbolic shadow we stand
today, signed the
Emancipation Proclamation
This momentous decree came
as a great beacon light of hope
to millions of Negro slaves
who had been seared in the
flames of withering injustice.
It came as a joyous daybreak
to end the long night of their
captivity.
But one hundred years later,
the Negro still is not free. One
hundred years later, the life of
the Negro is still sadly crip-
pled by the manacles of segre-
gation and the chains of dis-
crimination. One hundred
years later, the Negro lives on
a lonely island of poverty in
the midst of a vast ocean of
material prosperity. One hun-
dred years later, the Negro is
still languishing in the comers
of Amencan society and finds
himself an exile in his own
land. So We have come here
today to dramatize a shameful
condition.
In a sense we have come to
our nation's capital to cash a
check• When the architects of
our republic wrote the magnif-
icent words of the
Constitution and the
Declaration of Independence.
they were signing a promis-
sory note to which every
American was to fall heir.
This note was a promise that
all men, yes. black men as
well as white men. would be
In Observance of the
National Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. Holiday Celebration,
The Southwest Alabama
Improvement Association
(SWAIA) will sponsor its
annual March/Parade and
Program on Monday, January
16. 2012 from 12:00 Noon-
2:00 PM in Grove Hill The
theme for this event is "Unity:
An Opportunity to Work
Together for the Better."
The guest speaker will be
Rev. Thomas E. Jackson. State
Representative. House
District #68. Special invited
guest are Rev. Corey Pruitt
(MC), Bro. Clifford Johnson
(solo), Anthony Ezell (dance
or male group), Sis. Mattie
Gwen (solo), and Mr. John
Connor, Director. Clark
County High School Royal
Band of Blue. The communi-
ty at large, church organiza-
guaranteed the unalienable
rights of life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that
America has defaulted on this
promissory note insofar as her
citizens of color are con-
cemed. Instead of honoring
this sacred obligation,
America has given the Negro
people a bad check, a check
which has come back marked.
"insufficient funds." But we
refuse to believe that the bank
of justice is bankrupt. We
refuse to believe that there are
insufficient funds in the great
vaults of opportunity of this
nation. So we have come to
cash this check 6 a check that
will give us upon demand the
riches of freedom and the
security of justice. We have
also come to this hallowed
spot to remind America of the
fierce urgency of now. This is
no time to engage in the luxu-
ry of cooling off or to take the
tranquilizing drug of gradual-
ism. Now is the time to make
real the promises of democra-
cy. Now is the time to rise
from the dark and desolate
valley of segregation to the
sunlit path of racial justice.
Now is the time to lift our
nation from the quick sands of
racial injustice to the solid
rock of brotherhood. Now is
the time to make justice a real-
ity for all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the
nation to overlook the urgency
of the moment. This swelter-
ing summer of the Negro's
legitimate discontent will not
pass until there is an invigorat-
ing autumn of freedom and
equality• Nineteen sixty-three
ill
tion, school students, faculty,
staff, administrators, bands,
boy scout/girls scout troops,
classic cars owner/club,
ROTC units and political can-
didates are invited to partici-
pate in this historic event.
Line up for the marching
will be at Clarke County High
School. The parade will start
at CCHS and proceed North
on Church Street. left on Cobb
Street. left on Court Street. a
brief program at the monu-
ment in front of the Clarke
County Courthouse and
parade continues to Clarke
Street. turn left go to Jackson
Street. right at Senior Citizens
Center continue to Dubose
Street left to CCHS.
For further information
contact: Dr. Ozelle L. Hubert.
President (SWAIA) @ 251-
387-0357. OR 246-5869.
is not an end, but a beginning.
Those who hope that the
Negro needed to blow off
steam and will now be content
will have a rude awakening if
the nation returns to business
as usual. There will be neither
rest nor tranquility in America
until the Negro is granted his
citizenship rights. The whirl-
winds of revolt will continue
to shake the foundations of
our nation until the bright day
of justice emerges.
But there is something that
I must say to my people who
stand on the warm threshold
which leads into the palace of
justice. In the process of gain-
ing our rightful place we must
not be guilty of wrongful
deeds. Let us not seek to satis-
fy our thirst for freedom by
drinking from the cup of bit-
temess and hatred.
We must forever conduct
our struggle on the high plane
of dignity and discipline. We
must not allow our creative
protest to degenerate into
physical violence. Again and
again we must rise to the
majestic heights of meeting
physical force with soul force.
The marvelous new militancy
which has engulfed the Negro
community must not lead us
to a distrust of all white peo-
ple. for many of our white
brothers, as evidenced by their
presence here today, have
come to realize that their des-
tiny is tied up with our des-
tiny. They have come to real-
ize that their freedom is inex-
tricably bound to our freedom.
We cannot walk alone.
As we walk, we must make
the pledge that we shall
always march ahead. We can-
able horrors of police brutali-
ty. We can never be satisfied,
as long as our bodies, heavy
with the fatigue of travel, can-
not gain lodging in the motels
of the highways and the hotels
of the cities. We cannot be sat-
isfied as long as the Negro's
basic mobility is from a small-
er ghetto to a larger one. We
can never be satisfied as long
as our children are stripped Of
their selfhood and robbed of
their dignity by signs stating
"For Whites Only". We cannot
be satisfied as long as a Negro
in Mississippi cannot vote and
a Negro in New York believes
he has nothing for which to
vote. No, no, we are not satis-
fied, and we will not be satis-
fied until justice rolls down
like waters and righteousness
like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that
some of you have come here
out of great trials and tribula-
tions. Some of you have come
fresh from narrow jail cells.
Some of you have come from
areas where your quest for
freedom left you battered by
the storms of persecution and
staggered by the winds of
police brutality. You have
been the veterans of creative
suffering. Continue to work
with the faith that unearned
suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go
back to Alabama, go back to
South Carolina, go back to
Georgia, go back to Louisiana,
go back to the slums and ghet-
tos of our northern cities,
knowing that somehow this
situation can and will be
changed. Let us not wallow in
the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my
not turn back. There are those ..: friends, so even though we
_ who are asking the devotees of._ face the difficulties of today
civil rights, "When will you be and tomorrow, I still have a
satisfied?" We can never be dream. It is a dream deeply
satisfied as long as the Negro rooted in the American dream.
is the victim of the unspeak- I have a dream that one day
out the true meaning of its
creed: "We hold these truths to
be self-evident: that all men
are created equal."
I have a dream that one day
on the red hills of Georgia the
sons of former slaves and the
sons of former slave owners
will be able to sit down
together at the table of broth-
erhood.
I have a dream that one day
even the State of MississippL a
state sweltering with the heat
of injustice, sweltering with
the heat of oppression, will be
transformed into an oasis of
freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four
little children will one day live
in a nation where they will not
be judged by the color of their
skin but by the content of their
character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day,
down in Alabama. with its
vicious racists, with its gover-
nor having his lips dripping
with the words of interposi-
tion and nullification: one day
right there in Alabama, little
black boys and black girls will
be able to join hands with lit-
fie white boys and white girls
as s~sters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day
every valley shall be exalted,
every hill and mountain shall
be made low, the rough places
will be made plain, and the
crooked places will be made
straight, and the glory of the
Lord shah be revealed, and all
flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the
faith that I go back to the
South with. With this faith we
will be able to hew out of the
And if America/is ~,he, a.
great nation this: must :l ,,¢orne
true. So let freedom ring from
the prodigious hilltops at New
Hampshire. Let freedoria-r
from the mighty tains Of
New York. Let 0m ring
from the heightening
Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from ~e
snowcapped Rockies of
Colorado!
Let freedom ring fr0m.tl~e
curvaceous slopes ~f
Califomial
But not only that; let free-
dom ring from Stone
Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedog:~>~;
Lookout
-i
Tennessee?
Let freedom;ifing frfha:
every hill and~:,tnolehitl:ofI
. L~i.C.?o~, -~.
Mississippi. ]~1: ~i;