Page 14 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – Friday, January 17, 2020 ~ Guest Commentary ~ How Martin Luther King, Jr. Changed Hearts By Dr. Earl H. Tilford M y father was a Presbyterian minister in rural northwest Alabama from 1961 to 1965. I came of age there, then left the University of Alabama with an M.A. in history in 1969. Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. and Governor George C. Wallace framed the historical context of a changing south to which I returned in 2008. In retrospect, 1963 was a watershed year in my life. On June 11, 1963, I watched on the television in our den as Governor Wallace stood in the door at the University of Alabama’s Foster Auditorium to fulfill a campaign promise to physically stop school desegregation. Quixotic as this proved, given that two African American students were already registered, the gesture got him reelected three times. Later that summer, on August 28, I watched as Martin Luther King eloquently prophesized “one day right there in Alabama” black children would “be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.” Eventually, those days arrived. A month later, on Sunday, September 15, 1963, while I was in my room studying Spanish at the start of my high school senior year, my dad summoned me to the den where he had been watching professional football. A news bulletin revealed four young African American girls were killed at Birmingham’s Sixteenth Street Baptist Church when a bomb detonated under the backstairs by a women’s bathroom where they primped after Sunday School. My dad, who previously had supported racial segregation, wept. “Son, if this is ‘defending our southern way of life,’ it’s not worth it.” The next Sunday his sermon was titled “God the Father Implies the Brotherhood of Mankind.” It was not well received. Dad’s epiphany resulted in a series of sermons related to securing civil rights while abjuring violence in the process. On a January night in 1965, during my freshman year in Tuscaloosa, while dad was in Huntsville, Klansmen burned a cross on our lawn. This terrified my deaf-since-birth mother. They also shot and killed my dog. In April, my parents moved to serve a church in Coral Gables, Florida. I remained at SOUNDS | from page 13 from young children to senior citizens. Here are a few events to check out: • A Frozen Party! Tomorrow (Saturday, Jan. 18) at 11 a.m. at the library. Come dressed up, ready to sing and create. • Chinese New Year, story time, crafts and treats with Kelly; Thursday, Jan. 23 at 3:30 p.m.; suitable for ages four and up. • Digital Animation and Storytelling Workshop, Monday, Jan. 27, 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. by Empow Studios. Registration required for children eight and up. • Lego Robotics Class, Tuesday, Jan. 28, from 4 to 6 p.m. This class combines engineering and programming, using EV3, the newest generation of Legos Mindstorms. Learn to code and work in pairs to create a robot. Grades 6 and up. Call or come to the reference desk to sign up. • Learn about foster parenting and adopting from foster care, upcoming information session, Jan. 30, 5:15 to 6:45 p.m., sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Children & Families. • Digital Animation and Storytelling, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 4 to 6 p.m., grades 6 and up, call or come to the reference desk. • Annual Food for Fines. Now through Feb. 29. The library will help you so that you may help others. If you have overdue fines, the library will reduce your fines in return for donations of nonperishable food, Donations will be given to local food pantries. Your fines will be reduced $1 for each item donated. Please the University of Alabama for four more years. My father’s ministry ended two decades later as a missionary in the Cayman Islands. The bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, along with many other atrocities, were part of the warp and woof of life in Alabama during the turbulent 1960s. While a student, I heard Governor Wallace speak on campus every year at the annual Governor’s Day celebration. In 1967, his wife, the newly elected Gov. Lurleen B. Wallace, awarded me the Air Force ROTC’s “Military Excellence” medal. After I saluted her, Alabama’s real “Guvnor” standing beside her, heartily shook my hand, “Congratulations, son! Alabama is proud of you.” I nodded and smiled. Martin Luther King, Jr. masterfully used rhetoric to deliver a powerful message that he effectively coupled to imageries of repression that included fire hoses, police batons, and cattle prods against demonstrators. The arc of history moved inexorably toward justice overcoming prejudice backed by Klan violence. Change came slowly, subtly, but surely. On Monday, July 6, 1964, four days after President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law, my father, mother, and I drove to Tuscaloosa from Leighton, Alabama. A scholarship for which I’d applied required a family interview with one of the university’s deans. On the way into town dad spotted a Morrison’s Cafeteria at campus edge. After the interview, dad suggested we have lunch there before the long drive home. As we drove into the parking lot, we spotted Klan picketers in full regalia mulling around the entrance. Mom strongly urged going elsewhere. Dad grumbled, “Bozos don’t tell me where I can eat.” Those Klansmen intended to intimidate would-be patrons of any color. As we approached, I noticed a sign: “You might be eating off the same plates as coloreds.” Undaunted, dad led us into the line: where a hulking Klansman stepped in front of my father and snickered, “Y’all must be some kind of n---r lovers.” Dad, a former collegiate football lineman, fixed that Klansman with a cold, unblinking stare and then replied in a measured and unwavering voice, “You bet.” The Klansman don’t drop off expired food. • Friendship Storytime on Fridays continues. This special program for children, which begins at 9:30 a.m., is sponsored by the Coordinated Family & Community Engagement Grant. It can help parents nurture their child’s social and early literacy skills with structured story time. • Let’s Get Ready For Kindergarten Playgroup! This playgroup, which is sponsored by the Coordinated Family & Community Engagement Grant, helps kids prepare for kindergarten. Fall and winter hours are Saturdays at 10 a.m. It’s recommended for children ages three through five. Activities change weekly. • A Taste of Tai Chi. Join us for an introduction to Tai Chi with Leda Elliott of Thousand Cranes Studio. No experience needed. Thursday, Jan. 16, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. This program is free. Please call the reference desk to reserve a spot at 781 231-4168. • Adult coloring group. Come relax with our continuing event. It’s a great opportunity to take time to unwind, be creative and have fun. No experience is necessary. There are pencils and coloring pages ready and waiting. Space is limited; please call to register at 781 231-4168. Wednesday, Jan. 15, 10 to 11:30 a.m. in Brooks Room on the second floor. • Artist Meet and Greet: Jack Holmes, Sunday, Jan. 19, 1 to 3 p.m. This program is sponsored in part by a grant from the Lynn Cultural Council. Finance Committee searching for members T he Saugus Town Moderator is seeking applicants to serve on the Town’s Finance Committee. This nine member volunteer committee reviews all financial warrant articles, including the town budget, and makes recommendations to Town Meeting. Interested citizens should send a statement of interest and qualifications to the Town Moderator at Cub Scout and Boy Scout recruitment Cub Scout Pack 62 and Boy Scout Troop 62 are still seeking new members after a successful recruitment effort on Founders Day. Cubs can sign up on Monprecinct4steve@gmail.com or drop it at the Town Clerk’s Office at 298 Central St. Suite 7, Attention: Town Moderator, by Friday, January 31, for consideration. day nights from 6:45 to 8 p.m. in the basement at the Cliftondale Congregational Church at 50 Essex St. in Saugus. Please use the door marked “office” in the front of the church. Cub Pack 62 welcomes boys from age five (kindergarten) to age 10 (Grade 5). grunted, then stepped back. My father had become part of a changing South. With time, many white southern hearts changed. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s message of peaceful resistance moved America toward his vision, stated eloquently on August 28, 1963: “A day will come when all God’s children … will be able to join hands and sing the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.’” Today, we honor Dr. King’s memory. —Dr. Earl Tilford is a military historian and fellow for the Middle East & terrorism with the Institute for Faith and Freedom at Grove City College. He currently lives in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. A retired Air Force intelligence officer, Dr. Tilford earned his PhD in American and European military history at George Washington University. From 1993 to 2001, he served as Director of Research at the U.S. Army’s Strategic Studies Institute. In 2001, he left Government service for a professorship at Grove City College, where he taught courses in military history, national security, and international and domestic terrorism and counter-terrorism. Boy Scouts can register on Tuesday nights from 6:45 to 8:30 p.m. in the basement of the Cliftondale Congregational Church. The Boy Scout program is for young men ages 10 1/2 to 17 (Grades 6-12) Any questions on our Cub Scout program – please contact Cubmaster Bill Ferringo at pack62saugus@gmail.com or bferringo@comcast.net. For Boy Scouts, please contact Scoutmaster John Kane at troop62saugus.org or 781-389-2708. Let’s hear it! Got an idea, passing thought or gripe you would like to share with The Saugus Advocate? I’m always interested in your feedback. It’s been more than three and a half years since I began work at The Saugus Advocate. I’m always interested in hearing readers’ suggestions for possible stories or good candidates for “The Advocate Asks” interview of the week. Feel free to email me at mvoge@ comcast.net. Do you have some interesting views on an issue that you want to express to the community? Submit your idea. If I like it, we can meet for a 15to 20-minute interview at a local coffee shop. And I’ll buy the coffee.
15 Publizr Home