Annual Martin Luther King birthday peace
march and rally looks at progress, shortcomings
By Liz Allen
Asheville, North Carolina, Jan. 19 (AGR)-- In commemoration
of what would be civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King’s 75th
birthday, nearly 1,000 people gathered at noon at the AME Church and
marched west on College St., taking up all four lanes of the road to
City County Plaza for a rally in front of the courthouse. Many people
held signs or banners and the Hillcrest High-Steppers performed. Performances
and speeches in the rally honored those who work for principles that
Dr. King stood for, including racial equality, peace, and economic justice.
A rabbi told the story of Rosa Parks, emphasizing that it was the actions
of one quiet person refusing to submit to what she believed was unjust
that got the Montgomery Bus Boycott underway and led to integration.
Different accounts of Dr. King and current issues in need of action
were discussed by the speaking line-up, which primarily included members
of a Christian church.
“Martin Luther King was a dreamer and he had a dream. That dream
did not only speak to him, but it speaks to a bunch of people, people
of all different nations, every creed and every color. The challenge
is that some of us are still asleep,” said Pastor Inez Ray, one
of the closing speakers. “The challenge is for you to wake up,
sit up, stand up, and to never shut up! Wake up to the reality, it has
been years since Martin Luther King had that dream and yet there is
hatred, bigotry, discrimination. We need each other, people of every
race, creed, and color.”
She called on people to mentor children in the community and said Asheville
needs to push for more African-American teachers in the schools.
“There has been a lot of changes since we first started walking,
a lot of positive change. We have a lot of people in positions of power,
black people, people of color. But that doesn’t mean there’s
not a lot left to be done,” said march and rally attendee Bob Smith.
“Just since the last elections we’ve been made aware of how
many problems there are with the election process, the voting process,
the poverty rate is staggering, wages are leaving the country, jobs
are leaving the country. This kinda reminds us that there is a whole
lot left to be done. That’s the whole purpose of the march.”
Smith said he believed effective social change is accomplished through
“networking, including everybody in the process, making connections
with all kinds of people and sharing the burden and sharing the fight.”
Also attending the event was Marilyn Bass who is a community outreach
coordinator with Neighborhood Housing Services of Asheville. She said
she has attended the marches “every year since they started.”
Bass is from Asheville but lived in Charlotte for several years and
notices a stark difference between the two cities in terms of race relations.
She pointed out that there are not many black teachers or black businesses
in Asheville.
Bass said she believed what activists should focus on is economic development.
“Dr. King was embarking on economic development when he was stricken
down and I think that could have very well been one reason why he was.
Because once you achieve economic parity, then to some who don’t
want that, that’s a threat, because the almightly dollar in capitalism
rules in this country. When I think of economics in our communities,
communities of color, African American in particular, I think about
putting our dollars back in the communities, that way we won’t
end up with blighted communities. Integration was a double-edged sword
in a way. Integration caused an out migration of African Americans into
the mainstream economy, being patrons of it but not being recipients.”
Bass said she believed, “Activists need to stay the course, to
be sure that they don’t allow pressure to steal their voice. That’s
a problem and an issue, as a native Ashevillian, I think that’s
very prevalent in this community, when there’s a resistance to
change, people tend to throw down the mantle, to not go against the
status quo.”
Eluding to the racism and ignorance that continue to exist, Keith Waldrop,
who was watching the march from the sidewalk, commented, “I guess
the march was alright and his birthday was alright too, I couldn’t
be no part of it personally. He had different beliefs than I do, everybody’s
got their own beliefs, my beliefs and his beliefs are a little different.
Every time he made a speech they just burned the cities.”
There was a heavy police presence during the march. During the rally
Ameri-corps served free soda and sandwiches. One large Confederate Flag
was visable, held by local controversial figure H.K. Edgerton.
