FOSTER'S DAILY DEMOCRAT
Thursday, January 25, 2007
King message resonates with Spaulding students
By JOHN QUINN
Democrat Staff Writer
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| Judy Cohen, Spaulding High School's Human Rights Club adviser, reads a poem to club members and area residents during a candlelit vigil Friday night to remember Martin Luther King Jr. |
ROCHESTER — Spaulding High students proved Martin Luther King Jr.'s words from 1963 still produce a strong impact and that much can be learned from his example both in New Hampshire and around the world.
About 40 residents and students watched the dramatic reading based on King's "Letter from the Birmingham Jail," which he wrote in April of 1963 after being jailed for insisting on being served at an all-white restaurant as part of an civil rights demonstration in Alabama.
Mel Burrowes, pastor of the Canterbury United Community Church, wrote the script which interspersed King's words with comments from white clergy members in Birmingham who hoped to curb violence and urged people to let the courts settle the matter.
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," Senior Joey Rowell, 18, who portrayed King during the performance, said reading King's responses to those fellow ministers.
Other members of the school's Human Rights Club, with help from the Straight And Gay Alliance Club, quoted comments from the other ministers.
"We hope we always remember what Martin Luther King stood for, which is love," said Human Rights Club adviser Judy Cohen, who also works as a special education counselor at Spaulding.
"You have to realize that the letter he wrote was 30 hand-written pages so you're only seeing a small portion of it," Cohen said, adding it is one of the most important documents of the civil rights era.
Following the performance, performers and members of the audience talked about civil rights issues and their feelings about King. The discussion continued during a brief candlelit vigil that was held outside the school.
Rowell said King's message is still relative today.
Freshman Tyler Reeves, 14, said while King's words and actions caused a significant change, there are many unsolved problems remaining.
"I think people are scared to stand up because they're afraid to disappoint the people around them," Reeves said.
Sophomore Gina Roussos, 15, said the issues Americans face with matters of sexual orientation echo similar problems other minorities faced in King's era.
Chris Schadler, who teaches environmental science at Spaulding, said while a leader like King may only come along once in a lifetime, individuals can make a difference in small ways.
"Every single person in this room can be an agent of change," Schadler said, adding that oppression continues to flourish in many parts of the world, especially in Niger and Darfur.
"Racism is alive out there and we are studiously ignoring the suffering of people," Schadler said.
Mayor John Larochelle and his wife, Gloria, said Friday night's celebration of King's work caused them to remember the difficulties that occurred in America when they attended high school in Rochester.
"I'm really encouraged by the young people who are doing things to get the human race going forward," John Larochelle said.
"Unfortunately, they have had more problems passed onto them than were passed onto me," Larochelle said. "I feel somewhat responsible."
In 1955, King helped organize a non-violent bus boycott in Montgomery, Ala., after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, as required by law. The boycott lasted 382 days and resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court declaring that segregation was unconstitutional in 1956.
Beginning in 1957, King traveled and spoke in support of non-violent action against injustice, which led him to Birmingham and his famous "I Have a Dream" speech in Washington, D.C., just four months later. He continued his work until he assassinated in 1968.
In 1986, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was first celebrated as a federal holiday. New Hampshire was the last state to observe a day for King, which began in 2000.
