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Martin Luther King’s 50th BY MICHAEL MOTES “The King 50th: You Can Fulfill the Dream” has been chosen as the overall theme to mark the nearly week-long series of events to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the birth of late Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Among the top participants in the numerous activities will be President Jimmy Carter, Senator Edward Kennedy, United Nations Secretary General Kurt Waldheim and Ambassador Andrew Young. A “first” will be the local meeting of a United Nations’ committee. According to Mrs. Coretta Scott King, the observance “will focus We Shall Overcome attention on establishing January 15 as a federal holiday .” “The time has come for us to demand that Congress follow the lead of 13 states which already have declared the 15 th of January as a public holiday,” Mrs. King said. “Those coming to Atlanta for the Birthday Observance will also participate in special workshops designed to build winning strategies for state ratification of the ERA and D. C. representation amendments.” President Carter will be in Atlanta on Sunday, January 14, to receive the 1979 Martin Luther King Non-Violent Peace Prize. The formal presentation will be made by Mrs. King at 2 p.m. at Ebenezer Baptist Church. A community rally at Ebenezer Baptist Church Thursday, January 11, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. will launch the numerous activities. On Friday, January 12, a Labor / Management/Government Awards Breakfast is scheduled for 8 a.m. in the MLK Community Center. Senator Edward Kennedy will be the key-note speaker at a Policy Conference at Ebenezer January 12, beginning at 10:30 a.m. World Peace, U.S. Ratification of Human Rights Covenants, Implementation of the Humphrey-Hawldns Bill, passage of the MLK Birthday Bill and Health Care are among the scheduled topics to be discussed. A presentation ceremony focusing on the new U.S. Postal Service Commemorate Stamp honoring Dr. King will take place at Ebenezer Saturday, January 13, at 9 a.m., followed by a series of “strategy sessions” on topics ranging from the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment to securing greater voter registration. In the evening, Atlanta University Center will host a youth rally and disco dance. Dedication of the MLK Datatorium is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on January 14, followed by an Interfaith Service at Big Bethel Church ' at 5 p.m. A number of Atlanta clergy are expected to participate in the service at which Archbishop Donnellan will deliver the benediction. A memorial concert will be held at the Civic Center at 8 p.m. The January 15 day of observation (Continued on page 2) On that afternoon in 1955, Rosa Parks was tired. It had been a long day and the sizzling heat of the afternoon made it seem longer. She waited for her bus. Beneath her feet the pavement fried under the hot, unmerciful Montgomery sun. As usual, the bus was late. Rosa stepped aboard the dusty streetcar, paid her fare and looked down the long, unfriend ly, narrow aisle. The back seats were full. She had hoped for one empty seat. A place to flop down. A little quiet silence where her servant day could be forgotten. It was not to be. Only the white, up front seats yielded a vacancy. They, she knew, offered at the same price per rider, were forbidden. The logic of this asinine, nonsensical, utterly ridiculous precept collapsed at that instant. And the clatter of that collapse would be heard into the next generation as the New World was challenged to bear the fruit of liberty and justice, for all, at last. Rosa sat down. Realizing the transgression, frothing in anger and disbelief, the incensed Montgomery bus driver reached her side in a one stride instant. Speechless, but waiting for movement that would cowtow in apology, he glared at the stubborn figure that was about to raise her eyes. When she did, they both knew that this intransigent stare, shared by this reluctant brother and sister of the South, had brought an era to an end. Segregation was dead. Martin Luther King, Jr. was an apprentice minister in South Alabama that year of ’55. He did not know Rosa Parks. He well knew segregation. Like a million of his brothers, like generations of pinning blacks before him, the horrors of human restriction haunted and taunted his life. If the right moment was proposed, if that moment should cross his path, he knew he would grasp it. Rosa, staring at the angry bus driver, was the moment. Birmingham was out there unseen before him - a hateful place of dogs and hoses and savage reluctance. And Selma, smelling of death, was out there too. And Ole Miss, unyielding to a few human black faces in class and the lily-white beaches of Jacksonville and the lonely inevitable bullet of Memphis. It was all waiting for his voice and his marching feet, but the moment was Montgomery and the beautiful bravery of Rosa Parks was the spark. If they could not ride in freedom then they would use a powerful alternative. They would march. And they did. Montgomery laughed, scorned, taunted, threatened and finally begged. But the first, the very first taste of success was in the air. All the songs and tears were being fulfilled. “Ain’t Nobody Gonna Turn Me Round.” “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen.” “We Shall Overcome, some day.” Their prophetic verses were at long last reaching fulfillment. The overcoming day had arrived. Montgomery, capitol of the State of Alabama, abandoned the back of the bus business, not because of great moral insight, but because of great economic necessity. The Nation was next. Inevitably, against mountainous odds, the rot would be healed. This week he would have celebrated the fullness of life - a half century of human activity. With others who dared, he sang his song prematurely. We shall overcome. qU4til\ Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta Thursday, January 11,1979 $5 Per Year ‘OUR LADY’ RECEIVES DONATION ~ Sister Mary dePorres of Pur Lady of Perpetual Help Hospital accepts a $2,500 check from Martha Whitehead, volunteer chairwoman of the American Cancer Society’s service and rehabilitation program. The donation represents an annual gift from the Georgia Division of the Cancer Society to the free Atlanta cancer hospital. The facility provides care for terminally ill patients, the majority, of whom are needy. But What Will They Drop...? NEW YORK (NC) - Reader’s Digest, noted for its condensation of famous books, is now undertaking to condense the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. Readers Digest expects to sign a contract in a few weeks with the Division of Education and Ministry of the National Council of Churches which holds the copyright on the Revised Standard Version, reported Associated Press. Work on the condensation has already begun and the company hopes to have all 66 books of the Revised Standard Version condensed within five years, said Herbert Lieberman, executive editor of condensed book projects at Reader’s Digest. The plan is to cut the Old Testament by half and the New Testament by about a quarter to produce a 720-page condensation, said Lieberman. The Revised Standard Version contains about 800,000 words. MEXICAN VISIT New World Welcomes Pope PUEBLA, Mexico (NC) - Pope John Paul II and the Latin American bishops will discuss Catholicism in contemporary Latin America while surrounded by majestic volcanos and historic buildings. The discussions will take place in Puebla, an ancient city of 500,000 people. Besides views of volcanos and historically important buildings, Puebla has a rich tradition exemplifying the centuries-old mission of the church to preach the Gospel. Among the 12 Franciscan missionaries who first evangelized the area was Father Toribio Benaventa, known by the Indians as Fray Motolinia. His name meant “the converter” in the local Indian dialect. Father Benaventa also was known for his defense of the Indians against abuses by the Spanish conquerors. Tne first bishop of Puebla, an 80-year-old Dominican named Julian Cortes, was also known for his bold defense of the Indians. He is also remembered for his long trips occasioned by the huge territory included in the Puebla Diocese. The vastness made the Puebla Diocese instrumental in evangelizing central and southern Mexico. The Dominicans, Franciscans and Jesuits built convents and churches which are showpieces of Baroque architecture. They compete for attention with the colonial facades of palatial residences and public buildings of various other styles. These include Toltec, Gothic and Renaissance. Along with the splendor, are buildings symbolizing the suffering of Catholicism, such as the Convent of Santa Monica. The nuns in residence lived underground during the years of persecution launched by President Plutarco Calles against the church in the 1920s. Guides show visitors the long, complicated system of secret passages, walls and hidden doors. The system made it possible for the nuns to continue living in the area and even offer asylum to other Catholics. Towering above all these structures is the Cathedral of Puebla de los Angeles, begun in 1562 and completed in 1649. The cathedral is marked by fine wooden carvings located in the choir section, the Altar of Kings and the Cypress Altar. The cathedral also has an excellent library donated by Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, a former bishop who became viceroy of Mexico and archbishop of Mexico City during the colonial era. Bishop Palafox also cared for the Indians and praised their skills in his book, “On the Nature of the Indian.” One chapter narrates how, after a Spanish artisan cast one of the largest bells for the cathedral, its sound was defective. An Indian worker said: “Do not be troubled, for when you were bom you could not speak, but by practice you learned. Let this bell ring its tongue many times and its sound will be clear.” Artisans polished the bronze. The bell, after many centuries, acquired a noble ring. Puebla became an archdiocese in 1903. The beatification cause for its first archbishop, Ramon Ibarra Gonzalez, has been introduced at the Vatican. Besides being a missionary and preacher, he constructed many hospitals, asylums and colleges. The current head of the see is Archbishop Rosendo Huesca Pacheco. The actual site of the meeting, officially called the third general assembly of the Latin American bishops, is the Palafox Seminary, located outside the city. It is a modem complex containing several buildings and wings. Most of the assembly delegates will live on the seminary grounds. Eventual decisions made by the delegates could have a strong effect on Puebla’s factories and businesses. Puebla is an industrial hub for production of petrochemicals, metal goods, automobiles and household appliances. Some of the issues to be discussed by the bishops are daily situations in this industrial area. The issues include worker-management relations, social justice and the place of religion in modem society. POPE PLANS PUEBLA VISIT - Pope John Paul II talks with Cardinal Alosio Lorscheider, president of the Latin American Bishops Council, during an audience in the Vatican. The pope has announced that he will visit the third general assembly of the Latin American bishops in Puebla, Mexico, next month. Cardinal Lorscheider is co-chairman of the assembly. > ‘4