r·
can
moral toee.
Th t as e sment of the
lelacy of the Rev. Martin
Luther Kina Jr. offered
'Sud y (JaD. 14) by Carrie
Saxon Perry, ayor of
Hard d, CoaD., and kCv.e
The Um\'e .
MJj�It8D'S Martin __
Jr. S)'IIIp)Si -King's Legacy:
Our Unfinished Agenda.-
The sympo ium al 0 in­
duded presentati 0 MOIl­
day by United Farm Workers
. Cesar Chavez and by
Jo eph Lo ery, co-founder
. King and current prest·(j IcDt
of the Southern Christian
. Leadership CoDferCllCC.
to app
WASHINGTO DC-
The pia birthday
e for Rosa Par duriDg
Black History onth in
February will be Wcw of
H· orical magnitude for the
civil· ave and for
�, .. twv�epJohn Coayers,
r
, in to strM for-unity
but not uniformitt aDd en­
courlgec:l them to return to their
communities after receiviDg .
their conege education and
_. back you ha\'e got-
te -
They also re to d DOt to
all others to define the
ate for them, b to 100 to their
own history and the state of
ail
lac
of lea
Pcrrysaid �LUtbetKing
wanted to do some
Cbing.to as
a nation - as written in the
Declaration 0 IndepeDdCDCC
and the Constitution-aU
about, to bridge the pp be­
tweD dreams and the � of
the great Americaa yth of
equality and j . ce,
� a tall order, a bit-
ter pill to swallow, dreadful
axiom to accept, W erry ex­
plained, ."b King's legacy was
the liberation of a . oD. • ,
King's pre ching. teaching
and writing. Perry said, created
a climate of moral righteous­
nes from which e have
veered. "We have a andoned
the notions of caring d shar-
�w •• -Gone'are King
and ]0 and Robe Kennedy
in our galaxy of stars. I ate Ivan
Boeskey and Donald Trump - a
caUous m e of greed and
personal gain. We overcome
one form of tyranny only 0 fmd
ourselves victim of ot ers -
AIDS, crack, illiter cy, infant
er
p
their communities today to
define the continuing struggle
. r· and oppression.
Perry, who was a four-term
member of the Connecticut
GeDeral J\uembIy prior to' her
cIectioD mayor, noted in her
address that maIly of the ae-
. . tecorded
today by people of color - sudl
the eIectioa of a B gowr-
nor in Virginia and a Black
mayor in Birmingham, AIa.­
arc a ·direct re uk of King's �
legacy.-
Today, hOWC\'er, Perry said,
there is a vacuum of moral
values,' ethics and ideals and
Americans m give thought to
rededicating themselves to
King's legacy-the chance for
all to li\'e the American dream.
Events of recent years' - the
Howard Beach incident, the
Stuart murder case in Boston,
the e ectio of a K¥ Klux Klan
member to the Louisiana legis­
lature and increased reports of
racism on college campuses­
show that we still have an UD­
finished e cia, Perry noted.
-Racism been ingrained
. in American culture, in our
Ia , in our intellect, in our
liter ture and in our lauguage, •
mortal- threatening and
de tating Jim Cro . sm.
Go . tb moral fervor and
iro clad commitment to rid the
country of all forms of oppres-
. .
Perry con­
envisioaed AiDerica
peopJc old be judged
by the color of . . but
by the of· clwac­
ter, We shall have an unfinished
nda,1r Perry � W long
. exclude g ys d lesbi
the handicapped and the dis­
abled, bankrupt family farmers
and striking coal miners from
first -class citizenship in this
land.
"Naming a holiday [for King]
. not enough. Listening to the 'I
Have A Dream' peech again'is
not enough. Naming an ex­
pres way, a school is not
enough. We mu t bring the
dream to itio transform the
dream into reality - that is the
unfinished enda that challen­
ges us, • Perry said.
Jr., (D-MI), said this week.
Mrs.Park sparked the
"moYemcnt" refused
to . in the de of a public b
in Montgomery, Ala., in 1957.
Conyers iDtroduced . . on
making Dr.Martin Lutbu King
J r.'1 birthday a holiday on
January ISth a a result of
King's leadership of �the Move-
CD�.
The Parks gala will be held
February 4th at the Kennedy
Center in Washington on the
evening of the former Alabama
seamtr ' 77th birthday. .
It i desiped to fulfiD her
dreams of creatiaa a tional
community institute for youth
development kno n as the
R d Raymond Pa, In-
• f()J' Self [)eyeJo� es-
tabliahed in 1987� ConYers Said.
Top ce: • • aLou
R Dioanc Warwick, Cicely
Ty on, the Neville Brothers,
. Melis a Manchester, Die
Gregory, Van Williams are
scheduled to participate, the
CODII' ed,
His announce Ilt followed
a breakf meeting on Capitol
Hill with the -Distinguished
So (and Daughters) of the
Civil Right ovement" at .
which key financial and political
b eker pledged support for the
cwnt.
ey included t e event's
:C04)IQ·lDAlor, C. Delores Tuck­
er; Corpor • on chair­
man J 0 h Smit· former
bo 0 Ce· c b etbaU star
S J otic direc­
tor of the University of the Dis­
trict of Co . · aDd former
Rep. Oarlie . (D-MI), a
current MaryIaDd bUIiJ·11CII11D81L
P j. the of
Conyers after
MoIII&C)mcry
3
•