Music, dancing, singing, praise to God and remembrance were the highlights of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. program Monday morning in the Brenham High School auditorium. This year s theme was #8220Unity has no color.
Keynote speaker was George C. Wright, president of Prairie View A M University. He spoke about how every time since the day has been celebrated, he thinks about when King visited Kentucky in the 1960s and remembered vividly his assassination in 1968, when Wright was in high school.
While he remembers the past, Wright also said what King was striving for should be focused on today. He urged people when they reflected on the past, not to look at it at a vindictive manner. Wright said it was part of American history, and the Civil Rights movement was not just black people but #8220committed white people who helped make it work out.
Looking at present day, Wright said he felt that King would have two different opinions about how his ideas have progressed. On one hand, he d be satisfied with the improvements, but would say as well, there was a lot more that needed to be done. He said King would look at hunger, disease, poverty anywhere in the world.
#8220We have to build on today, he said. #8220Martin Luther King made advancements for black people but made a blueprint for future advances.
He then continued with ways to continue King s legacy.
One way was to look to see who was vulnerable in society, such as seniors and youth. After finding groups needing help, he said people needed to work on helping them, whether it be to benefit their health, living or other improvements. A second way to help keep his memory alive, Wright said, was to speak candidly and have a fair and serious dialogue on racism.
He said that he attended an event discussing the Brown vs. the Board of Education trial, which lead to integration of schools. When someone said that the case has been a failure long term, Wright said that even though the case might not have achieved all its goals yet, there has been progress made.
While he said that people can be proud of their race and should embrace it, Wright mentioned people shouldn t become vain of it as God chose your race and people should accept it.
#8220If you lift the fog, you ll see commonality, said Wright. #8220Keeping the dream of Martin Luther King is to strive for a multicultural society.
Also speaking at the event was Angel Maness of Houston, a graduate of Brenham High School. She appeared on ABC s #8220Wife Swap recently, and discussed several of her experiences from the swap. This swap switched Maness with Frankie Roy from California.
She said that her goal was to make an impact on the family and leave a mark that would last a lifetime.
During her stay, Maness said that after living by their rules the first few days, she had several issues that she worked out with the family during the five days they had to follow her rules. One of which was cleaning, where she was meticulous and they were very lax.
When asked about why she was so meticulous, she said that it was her way of showing God she was thankful for the things he gave her.
Exercise was another point of contention with the swapped family and Maness. She told them that they only had one body which had to last a lifetime, and if they abused it, it wouldn t last long.
#8220The least you can do is take pride and exercise, she said in reference to the family s reluctance.
She also said that people needed to set goals and make a list of practical steps to achieve them. When she was questioned by the family about goals and why she said failure was not an option, Maness said that she didn t chose to learn by failure but learn from the experiences and teachings of others.
Maness said she learned a lot from the exchange.
#8220I have a greater appreciation for rules, and my family said they had an appreciation for me, she said. #8220The son of the other family said thank you for my help.
In addition to Wright and Maness, there were several other speakers and performers at the event. Trenton Bell of Word in Motion Mime Ministry in Belton, presented an interpretation to song. Ashley Kossie of Temple did a praise dance to religious music.
Psalms 100, Mount Zion Youth Choir, Gail Green, Delores Randolph and Daniel Reyes all sang gospel songs. A tribute to Coretta Scott King, who passed away in 2006, was also presented at the event.
Wright said that part of King s Civil Rights movement was spiritual and that continues today.
#8220God is responsible for things that happen in life, he said. #8220We have to live dedicated lives. He bore the cross, now we have to.
News RSS