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'The Dream' Comes True

Highlands Today file photo

Parade participants march down Delaney Avenue for the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in Avon Park.

By GARY PINNELL

Highlands Today

Published: January 15, 2009

AVON PARK - If Martin Luther King were standing here today, what would Arnold Wilson ask him?

"I would say, how did he keep the non-violence out of his message, when everything else around him was violent?" said Wilson, one of the leaders of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. prayer breakfast on Monday.

In the 1960s, when whites were killing blacks for standing up for their own rights, when blacks were rioting in the streets and smashing the windows of businesses, King captured the nation with his commitment to nonviolent resistance. King said this was the only method to resist evil and create a just society.

"For him to say in that speech, that one day, color wouldn't matter," said Wilson, "he had all that hope and that vision, that it would actually come to fruition, within one day of our event. It just gives me so much hope."

"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character," King said on Aug. 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation 100 years ago,

And that has happened, Wilson said. On Tuesday, a black man will be inaugurated as president of the United States.

"A young man by the name of Obama," said Wilson. "Two years ago, I'd never heard of him. But he gives every person hope."

He and Obama are almost the same age, Wilson said. They were both 8 years old when King spoke.

"We have the freedom (King) saw back in the '60s," Wilson marveled. "I would ask, wow, how did you know?"

NAACP Breakfast

Arnold praised the keynote speaker for the annual prayer breakfast, which expects to attract a crowd from Highlands, Hardee and Polk counties. Edgar Telefair Pickett III is the founder of Word Alive Ministries in Polk County.

"He's nationally known as a minister of change," said Arnold. "He has a message that will be inspiring to the participants. He is a little Obama. He really is."

Gary Bagwell, a community supporter of the NAACP and a donor to many causes and events, will be recognized, Arnold said.

Other entertainers: Avon Park middle and high school students will speak, the Seventh-day Adventist Church parishioners will conduct a praise dance, and the Shiloh Baptist Choir will sing.

After a breakfast of bacon, turkey sausage, scrambled eggs, grits, coffee, juice and tea, a parade will begin, ending at Memorial Field.

Other Celebrations

Highway Park: Martin Luther King march, 11 a.m. Monday, starting at the former Amoco station on U.S. 27, ending at Action Revival Church, 132 Williams. Ceremony and meal to follow.

Avon Park: Assistant Principal Seth Lambert said nothing is planned during the school day, but several clubs are putting on events. The Art Club is making banners for the parade, and a skit will be performed with students taking the parts of the new First Family. The Nubian Queen dancers are performing, there will be face painting and a bounce house.

Sebring: High school students will watch Obama's inauguration Tuesday on television.

MLK PRAYER BREAKFAST

WHEN: 7-9 a.m. Monday

WHERE: Community Center

310 W. Main St., Avon Park

TICKETS: $20

MORE INFO

Arnold Wilson: 446-3018

Brenda Gray: 873-1138

Shawn Blackmon: 449-2313

John Rich: 368-1191

Cynthia Barrett: 873-9574