Martin Luther King Jr. remembered in Charles City
By Kelly Terpstra, kterpstra@charlescitypress.com
Remembrance, honor and song.
All three were intertwined Monday morning in the Zastrow Room of the Charles City Public Library.
Area residents came together to pay homage to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. with a program titled “Honoring the Dream.”
The MLK Day program included prayer as well as audio and video clips that looked back on the life of King and his efforts to end racial discrimination and improve equal rights.
The ceremony was organized by Be the Bridge founder Phillip Knighten, who recently became the first African American to be elected to the Charles City Council. Be the Bridge is a racial reconciliation group designed to create unity, peace and love in Charles City.
Knighten said he was impressed by the number of area residents who showed up for the program despite single-digit temperatures outside.
“Chief (Hugh Anderson) notified me that every chair in the building was used, so we had over 100 people turn out,” said Knighten, “… just to come out and give their time to appreciate a man who gave so much to us.”
Many who attended the event braved the cold after the indoor portion of the program, to walk across the pedestrian bridge that spans the Cedar River near the library. The short march was a symbolic reminder of the Selma to Montgomery protest marches in Alabama in 1965 that were organized by non-violent activists, including King. King led the second of the three marches that took place in March of that year, almost 55 years ago.
King, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, was assassinated just four years later in April 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.
The purpose of the event put on by Knighten and several other members of the community in Charles City is to unite and find common ground with each other, no matter the differences, Knighten said.
“That’s about the only way we can solve things, is to have an understanding of each other. We have to have empathy for each other and the only way we can do that is if we know each other and build relationships with one another,” said Knighten. “That’s the only way we break down barriers that we have.”
Coulter Page, pastor of Bethany Alliance Church in Charles City, led the opening and closing prayer.
Pamella Mitchell and Floyd County Treasurer Frank Rottinghaus read a biography of Dr. King.
“Free at Last” and “I Still Have a Dream” were video tributes that were played for the audience.
Kaleb Michael Davis read a presentation of “I Have a Dream,” King’s famous speech he delivered after the March on Washington in 1963.
The gospel song “We Shall Overcome” – a key anthem of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s – was sung by the Charles City Players. Many audience members sang along during one of the more emotional moments of the ceremony.
Floyd County Supervisor Linda Tjaden read an Equal Rights Proclamation that referenced several amendments, including the 19th Amendment (women’s right to vote) and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The county board had passed the resolution at a special meeting earlier that morning.
Roy Schwickerath, currently the chairman of the Board of Supervisors, along with Supervisor Doug Kamm and Tjaden, were at the program at the library.
Schwickerath, who graduated from Charles City High School in the 1970s and was the fire department’s chief for 14 years, said he feels race relations in the area have improved. He also said there is still a long way to go.
“We’ve come so far and we have so much farther to go,” said Schwickerath. “Isn’t that the name of the game? We have ups and downs. As we rise above something, then we fall down on something else. But hopefully we’re getting higher and better all the time.”
Knighten said he was raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and moved to Charles City 16 years ago. He said he remembers learning about King when he was 4 or 5 years old in preschool. Knighten said he experienced first-hand racial disparities and discrimination growing up as a kid in the southwest.
Knighten said Tulsa was the site of the Black Wall Street Massacre in 1921. The race riots started when mobs of white residents attacked black citizens and business owners. One report stated over 36 people died in the riots and over 35 blocks of the business district were destroyed.
“I’ve seen it first hand,” Knighten said about racism. “I like to think that in this day in time we’ve moved on past it, but we haven’t. We’re almost going in reserve,” said Knighten. “Now it’s just more important than ever to get together.”
Knighten said people will be able to share experiences, build chemistry, embrace differences and craft new friendships when Be the Bridge meets Feb. 25, from 5:30 p.m. until 7 p.m. in the Zastrow Room at the public library.
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