Saturday, January 16, 1999

Events honor Dr. King

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BY EARNEST WINSTON
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Rev. Ronald Sherman places a wreath at the memorial to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King at Reading Road and Martin Luther King Drive in Avondale. (Glenn Hartong photo) | ZOOM |

        Snowy sidewalks and chilly weather didn't stop Frances Knight and her two best friends from walking 13 blocks to Friday's wreath-laying ceremony in remembrance of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

        The hike to the King memorial at the corner of Martin Luther King Drive and Reading Road in Avondale was a must for the trio.

        “We felt the dedication, we felt the responsibility and we felt committed to do this,” said Ms. Knight, of Avondale, accompanied by friends Clara Lytle of Corryville and Mary Gill of Queens, New York.

        The afternoon ceremony was among several events Friday in Cincinnati in which blacks and whites gathered side-by-side to pay tribute to the civil rights leader, in anticipation of the national holiday Monday in his honor.

        The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth told more than 100 people at the Health Alliance Business Center Medical Auditorium in Avondale about the “courage, character and commitment” of the Rev. Dr. King.

        The Rev. Mr. Shuttlesworth, a civil rights leader and close associate of the Rev. Dr. King, described an incident in which he saw his friend physically attacked.

        It occurred as civil rights leaders were checking into a hotel in Selma, Ala., and the Rev. Dr. King tried to shake a white man's hand. The man struck him.

        “Dr. King didn't even frown,” the Rev. Shuttlesworth said. “He was a man so committed to nonviolence. Dr. King asked the man: "Did it help you to hurt me?'

        “We need people today to stand in times of difficulty and say this is the way we ought to go,” said the Rev. Mr. Shuttlesworth, pastor of Greater New Light Baptist Church in North Avondale.

        The nonviolence theme was echoed at the first-ever “Stop the Violence Youth Day” at Integrity Hall Banquet & Conference Center in Bond Hill.

        One hundred Cincinnati high school students discussed gangs and violence, employment opportunities and news media. The work shops were led by police officers, journalists and human-resource officials.

        “Whatever you want to be in life, hold onto it. Don't let anyone take (your dreams) away. You are somebody,” Sgt. Carolyn Williams, coordinator of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program for the Cincinnati Police Division, told one group.

        Anita Anderson, a sophomore at Walnut Hills High School, said, “We're never too young to stop the violence.”

        That's the message program coordinator Alicia Reece wanted to hear.

        “Violence is something that's so prevalent today, it's so real. Young people have either heard about it or experienced it,” said Ms. Reece, vice president of Bond Hill-based Communiplex Promotional Services.

Martin Luther King Day events

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