One already was honored with a holiday. The other received a posthumous award named for the first. "Long before Dr.
Martin Luther King became a national symbol for racial equality and positive social change, Mr. (James Wesley) Pruitt was doing the very same thing here, right where we live," Othene Bell Wade said during the 16th annual bell-ringing ceremony at the college. Each year on Martin Luther King Jr.
Day, the college presents an award to a Tri-Citian who has promoted positive social change in the spirit of King.
This year's recipient, Pruitt, worked for many years to improve housing and employment standards for east Pasco residents. He also became the first black person employed by the city of Pasco and served as a liaison between the community and the police.
Pruitt, who passed away in July at age 82, also enjoyed singing gospel and blues music. Monday's ceremony included a video clip of him doing No Room at the Hotel, which he said he first sang in a nightclub in Anchorage when he was 5. His granddaughter, Stephanie Pruitt, 29, of Pasco, said she remembers him as someone who was always busy.
He helped bridge the gap between young and old and visited schools to encourage the youth, she said. She was among the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Pruitt who attended Monday's ceremony. It filled her with emotion, she said.
"Oh, my goodness, it's a major honor," she said. "I'm so proud. I just wish he could be here.
" His daughter, Mollie Pruitt, accepted the award on his behalf. "If he was here, he'd say, 'Don't let Dr. King die in vain,' " she said, imploring the audience to continue the cause.
King, who was assassinated in 1968 at age 39, would have turned 78 on Monday. Fred Edwards, 68, of Kennewick, brought his son and three grandchildren to the ceremony. For people like him -- people whose lives changed directly as a result of King's movement -- Martin Luther King Jr.
Day can have a greater significance than other holidays, he said. When Edwards, born in Savannah, Ga., crossed the country in 1964, he had to bring a potty chair in the car for his daughter because blacks weren't allowed to use public restrooms.
In 1968, when he crossed the country again, he noticed the difference. "People said, 'May I help you, sir?' I was shocked when I stopped at the gas stations," Edwards said.
The ceremony started Monday at the MLK statue on the college campus before moving into the auditorium inside the Gjerde Center. The Federation of Choirs sang gospel songs and speeches were given by Willie Stone, a retired Pasco educator, and Othene Bell Wade, last year's MLK Spirit Award winner. Before the ceremony started, Donna Campbell, dean for the CBC Institute of Professional Development, said King's legacy stays real and clear to the students and the community the college serves.
The bell-ringing ceremony is a way for the college to recognize that connection, she said. "It's so important, I wouldn't miss it -- even in this cold," she said.
News RSS