Legacy Of Martin Luther King Jr. Celebrated In Warsaw
January 17, 2023 at 2:36 a.m.
Legacy Of Martin Luther King Jr. Celebrated In Warsaw
By David [email protected]
King was born Jan. 15, 1929, and assassinated on April 4, 1968.
Organized by Sara McNeal Strahan, Travis McConnell and others to make sure King’s legacy was celebrated locally despite the annual Committee to Commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. luncheon being cancelled this year, Monday’s event featured several speakers and performances of jazz music by Charles Cotton on the soprano saxophone.
Strahan welcomed the crowd to the MLK event by talking about the great needs in the community and asking everyone to think about how they can help, be of service and really use King’s message of service and loving one another regardless of skin color or social economics.
She offered a prayer over the food donated by One Ten Craft Meatery for people to eat before the program began a short time later with Cotton playing.
Strahan also asked for a round of applause for McConnell, who owns Courthouse Coffee. She said McConnell “has listened to the voices of so many people in this community” and has actually “taken a major step forward to solve problems, to be that person and a voice in our community.”
McConnell thanked everyone for coming, saying he was happy to help out and he wouldn’t want the day to go by without there being an MLK event in the community.
The first speaker was 26-year military veteran Joe Banks, who also was the original founder of the Committee to Commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. The majority of Banks’ comments were on King’s life and his impact on the Civil Rights Movement.
King was involved in the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, among many other notable achievements. Those who opposed him had him jailed and attempts were made on King’s life during his life, but he persisted.
“The 1963 ‘I Have a Dream Speech’ has been called the hallmark of his career, and it’s been recorded and recorded ... and it is a powerful speech. And his closing words are what I would like to share with you,” Banks said. “When he says, ‘Let freedom ring. Let freedom right from the mountain tops of Georgia. Let freedom ring.’ Pray for the day when freedom rings across the borders of the United States, either manmade land borders or manmade ethnic borders.”
Community advocate Debra Shumpert, of Ebony & Ivory Salon, said she came to the Warsaw in 1994 and she saw there was a need for the “ethnic group of women mainly that needed their hair done and they were going to Chicago, Fort Wayne, Elkhart and I had just came from Detroit, Michigan, and got all my training there. So I was glad to try to step in and help and I was honored when I got to help with the MLK program with Joe Banks and others.”
After Cotton played another selection on his soprano saxophone, Raquel Hoyt, of Glitter Hair & Beauty Supply, 611 S. Buffalo St., began her short speech by quoting King: “Darkness can not drive out darkness. Only light can do that.”
She said King’s light never stops shining. His words earmarked our path and his vision “showed us that we could.” Because of King’s works, Hoyt said she was able to be at the event with everyone Monday.
“Because of him, we are here together. Upon a flicker, make sure your light shines. Not alone, steps commanded by our father, he prepared our march and our future. I’m thankful for you for us to be, to understand, to grow and to gather,” she said, in part.
The final speaker was retired Leesburg Elementary School teacher Marsha Cook.
Cook talked about how she grew up in a small segregated Tennessee town. She grew up in a faith-based family that taught her that God loves everyone unconditionally.
In her approximately 20-minute speech, Cook discussed how she went from Tennessee to Fort Wayne and then landed as a teacher at Leesburg Elementary School despite the superintendent at the time not knowing what Warsaw would think about her.
“Dr. King inspired me tremendously because he talked about love. And he talked about being judged not by your color but the content of your character,” Cook said.
Quoting a verse her parents taught her, I Philippians 4:11-13 - “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” - she said that doesn’t mean a person won’t meet some challenges, but God is always going to be there with you.
“You will meet those challenges, but you have the strength to do them, and if the door closes, he will open another one for you. And that’s the way I have lived most of my life, is to show that the strength is there because God is behind me, he’s the wind in my sails, and that keeps me going,” Cook said. “Dr. King talked about love. I grew up with love. Parents and grandparents demonstrated the love in the family.”
When she came to predominantly white Leesburg school, she said she had no problem because she was prepared since she was a little girl.
“I grew up with love in the heart, knowing that you don’t judge people and you get to know them. And that’s what people need to do, is get to know other people,” she said. You may not like every person, but God says to love your enemies and pray for your persecutors and Cook grew up with that message. “So I feel Dr. King’s message was the same as my parents and I was inspired by that.”
Cook left everyone with a question: Warsaw, what will you do? “A lot of things have changed, but there’s still some challenges. And it takes one on one, one on one. You have to do it one on one. Loving people. So, Warsaw, what will you do? Those of you who are here, what are you doing, what have you done, what will you do to support this new group that is getting started? It’s all about love,” she concluded.
Strahan wrapped up the night’s event by challenging everyone to do something and having King’s “I Have a Dream” speech played.
King was born Jan. 15, 1929, and assassinated on April 4, 1968.
Organized by Sara McNeal Strahan, Travis McConnell and others to make sure King’s legacy was celebrated locally despite the annual Committee to Commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. luncheon being cancelled this year, Monday’s event featured several speakers and performances of jazz music by Charles Cotton on the soprano saxophone.
Strahan welcomed the crowd to the MLK event by talking about the great needs in the community and asking everyone to think about how they can help, be of service and really use King’s message of service and loving one another regardless of skin color or social economics.
She offered a prayer over the food donated by One Ten Craft Meatery for people to eat before the program began a short time later with Cotton playing.
Strahan also asked for a round of applause for McConnell, who owns Courthouse Coffee. She said McConnell “has listened to the voices of so many people in this community” and has actually “taken a major step forward to solve problems, to be that person and a voice in our community.”
McConnell thanked everyone for coming, saying he was happy to help out and he wouldn’t want the day to go by without there being an MLK event in the community.
The first speaker was 26-year military veteran Joe Banks, who also was the original founder of the Committee to Commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. The majority of Banks’ comments were on King’s life and his impact on the Civil Rights Movement.
King was involved in the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, among many other notable achievements. Those who opposed him had him jailed and attempts were made on King’s life during his life, but he persisted.
“The 1963 ‘I Have a Dream Speech’ has been called the hallmark of his career, and it’s been recorded and recorded ... and it is a powerful speech. And his closing words are what I would like to share with you,” Banks said. “When he says, ‘Let freedom ring. Let freedom right from the mountain tops of Georgia. Let freedom ring.’ Pray for the day when freedom rings across the borders of the United States, either manmade land borders or manmade ethnic borders.”
Community advocate Debra Shumpert, of Ebony & Ivory Salon, said she came to the Warsaw in 1994 and she saw there was a need for the “ethnic group of women mainly that needed their hair done and they were going to Chicago, Fort Wayne, Elkhart and I had just came from Detroit, Michigan, and got all my training there. So I was glad to try to step in and help and I was honored when I got to help with the MLK program with Joe Banks and others.”
After Cotton played another selection on his soprano saxophone, Raquel Hoyt, of Glitter Hair & Beauty Supply, 611 S. Buffalo St., began her short speech by quoting King: “Darkness can not drive out darkness. Only light can do that.”
She said King’s light never stops shining. His words earmarked our path and his vision “showed us that we could.” Because of King’s works, Hoyt said she was able to be at the event with everyone Monday.
“Because of him, we are here together. Upon a flicker, make sure your light shines. Not alone, steps commanded by our father, he prepared our march and our future. I’m thankful for you for us to be, to understand, to grow and to gather,” she said, in part.
The final speaker was retired Leesburg Elementary School teacher Marsha Cook.
Cook talked about how she grew up in a small segregated Tennessee town. She grew up in a faith-based family that taught her that God loves everyone unconditionally.
In her approximately 20-minute speech, Cook discussed how she went from Tennessee to Fort Wayne and then landed as a teacher at Leesburg Elementary School despite the superintendent at the time not knowing what Warsaw would think about her.
“Dr. King inspired me tremendously because he talked about love. And he talked about being judged not by your color but the content of your character,” Cook said.
Quoting a verse her parents taught her, I Philippians 4:11-13 - “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” - she said that doesn’t mean a person won’t meet some challenges, but God is always going to be there with you.
“You will meet those challenges, but you have the strength to do them, and if the door closes, he will open another one for you. And that’s the way I have lived most of my life, is to show that the strength is there because God is behind me, he’s the wind in my sails, and that keeps me going,” Cook said. “Dr. King talked about love. I grew up with love. Parents and grandparents demonstrated the love in the family.”
When she came to predominantly white Leesburg school, she said she had no problem because she was prepared since she was a little girl.
“I grew up with love in the heart, knowing that you don’t judge people and you get to know them. And that’s what people need to do, is get to know other people,” she said. You may not like every person, but God says to love your enemies and pray for your persecutors and Cook grew up with that message. “So I feel Dr. King’s message was the same as my parents and I was inspired by that.”
Cook left everyone with a question: Warsaw, what will you do? “A lot of things have changed, but there’s still some challenges. And it takes one on one, one on one. You have to do it one on one. Loving people. So, Warsaw, what will you do? Those of you who are here, what are you doing, what have you done, what will you do to support this new group that is getting started? It’s all about love,” she concluded.
Strahan wrapped up the night’s event by challenging everyone to do something and having King’s “I Have a Dream” speech played.
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