Tuesday, January 18, 2000
Kids' upbringing focus at MLK Day celebration
BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Chip Hall has an exercise he likes to do with the children he teaches as youth pastor at Fifth Christian Disciples of Christ Church in Evanston.
“Who's your hero?” he asks them. Usually, the children's answers involve celebrities or athletes. Rarely do they mention their parents.
“The number one leader in every child's eyes should be their parents,” Mr. Hall said. “But most children don't even think of their parents.”
That's a big reason he joined more than 3,000 people who marched from Fountain Square to Music Hall Monday to celebrate the 71st anniversary of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.
Too many adults aren't good role models and don't adequately teach their children respect, responsibility and an appreciation for achievement, said Mr. Hall, whose church brought a bevy of children to participate in the march.
Those issues were the theme for the day, as speakers from a morning memorial breakfast to a midday rally to an afternoon service exhorted children to seize opportunities and parents to provide the stability, education and love youth need to succeed.
At the 10th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Hotel downtown, keynote speaker Ayinde Jean-Baptiste urged the audience to fight the “death and destruction (that) is at epidemic proportions.”
“We must realize that the vast majority of children today who are out of control cannot be blamed for their lack of control. Somebody failed to teach them control,” said Ayinde, 17, a Harvard University freshman who was a youth speaker at the Million Man March in 1995.
“Unless you become intolerant of the violence, drug prolif eration and the demonization of our youth, then we will grow to accept the status quo.”
At an 11:15 a.m. rally at Fountain Square, hundreds of supporters — shivering in temperatures that dipped to 18 degrees — listened to snippets of the Rev. Dr. King's speeches over a loudspeaker before heading up Vine Street toward Music Hall.
As they marched, sixth-graders Chquantae Ray and Dominque Green thought about others who had fought for their civil rights.
“Rosa Parks: She wouldn't give up her seat on the school bus,” said Chquantae, 11, of Wyoming.
“Harriet Tubman: She helped slaves escape across the Underground Railroad,” said Dominique, 12, of Avondale.
“The Rev. Jesse Jackson: He did a lot of marches to fight for our rights,” Chquantae re sponded.
“There was some guy in jail for a whole bunch of years in Africa,” Dominique added.
Such patter would please Cincinnati Public Schools' Sharon Draper, 1997's National Teacher of the Year, who was keynote speaker at the afternoon King celebration at Music Hall.
African-American children should know far more about their history than just what the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. did, she said.
“Do they know Gwendolyn Brooks, the first African-American to win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry? Do they know Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American on the Supreme Court?” she said. “How can we expect them to be first in anything if they don't know what came before?
“Do they know the reason they get off school today? If they don't, we must tell them. You must tell them. Because if we don't tell them, who will? I don't care if you have a child. If you know a child, it is your responsibility.”
The Arts Consortium of Cincinnati, which sponsored the memorial breakfast, presented several awards:
• Lifetime Achievement Award: The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, a close associate of the Rev. Dr. King. Jailed 45 times for civil disobedience and the target of two bombings, Mr. Shuttlesworth helped organize the demonstrations in Birmingham and Selma, Ala., that led to desegregation and voting rights. He now is pastor of Greater New Light Baptist Church in Avondale.
• 2000 Dreamkeeper: Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky African American Chamber of Commerce. Founded in 1997, the cham ber has pressed for development of African-American-owned businesses. It also developed the Ujima Cinci-bration after a man died during the jazz festival weekend in 1997.
• Youth Dreamkeeper 2000: Nanci Mays, 17, a Withrow High School senior. Nanci is in the top 5 percent of her class and serves on the student council, Dux Femina, Local School Decision-Making Committee, Foreign Language Club, Pep Club, Homecoming Committee and Homecoming Court. She also is a voting member of the United Way and Community Chest's board of trustees.
Meanwhile, in Hamilton, more than 200 people marched from Booker T. Washington Community Center to Pilgrim Baptist Church, following a circuitous route through downtown in a community observance of the Rev. Dr. King's birthday.
Karen and Phillip Jordan of Hamilton participated in the march along with their two daughters and a niece.
Brittany Jordan, 12, said it was important to remember the Rev. Dr. King.
“He fought for freedom, justice and equality,” she said.
“Justice and equality for everybody,” added her mother.
Jenny Callison contributed to this report.
Carrying on King's lessons
Kids' upbringing focus at MLK Day celebration
King events continue today
National King Day coverage from Associated Press
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