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Saturday, April 12, 2008 3:00 AM NAACP holds memorial service By Rochelle Moore | Times Staff Writer More than 100 Wilsonians took part in a remembrance service Friday for slain civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The service, held in the sanctuary of Calvary Presbyterian Church, included music, prayers, words of inspiration and a candlelight memorial for 40 white and black Americans who died in the struggle for racial equality. "They have something to say to each of us in their death," said the Rev. Theodore Woolridge of the Trinity African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. "Their deaths say to us that we must work passionately for the realization of the American dream." As George Leach, a Wilson historian, read off the names of people who died during the Civil Rights era, Woolridge read words from one of King's eulogies. The eulogy was given during a 1963 funeral for four girls killed during the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala. Friday's service of remembrance was held to honor the 40th anniversary of King's death on April 4, 1968. The service also focused on others who died in the struggle for civil rights. But the struggle for equality and justice remains, a struggle that must be worth the fight, said the Rev. Alonzo Braggs, pastor of Bethel AME Zion Church and president of the local NAACP chapter. "These 20th century martyrs were chosen for such a time as this," Braggs said. "Their deaths were not in vain." Braggs read John 15:13 from the Message Bible, which reads, "Put your life on the line for your friends." After sharing stories from the Bible of people who were killed, mistreated or forgotten, Braggs said that people nowadays must be willing to fight for a cause they believe in, even in the face of danger. "Do you possess this love?" Braggs said. "Are you willing to die for a cause?" Not only was King's death for a greater cause, so was the life and death of Jesus Christ, he said. "He was hated for standing up for what is right," Braggs said. "He was conditioned to never give up. He is still advocating for grace, mercy, justice and righteousness." The service of remembrance was hosted by the Wilson County chapter of the NAACP. |
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