Cape Girardeau County Tea Party celebrates King speech's anniversary at rally

About 60 area residents showed up Saturday at a pavilion adorned with several American flags in Cape County Park North as the Cape Girardeau County Tea Party celebrated the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.

"It's extraordinary to see the people here," said Bishop Carey Wilson of the New Beginnings Church of Deliverance in Cape Girardeau. "We've been divided because a lot of people never really understood what Dr. King died for. He died for people to come together and love the Lord, and that's one of the things we're working for on this occasion."

The event got underway shortly after 5 p.m. with Wilson leading the assembly in an opening prayer, which was then followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

Speakers then addressed the assembly about the sacrifices made by the nation's forefathers, the crimes against blacks during the civil rights movement and the sacrifices made by U.S. soldiers today.

"Today is about honoring the dream of Dr. Martin King," said local tea party president John Casebolt. "If you go back and look at his speech, it says that his dream was tied very greatly to the American dream, and that's what we're here to celebrate and examine."

A senior at Southeast Missouri State University, Casebolt got involved in the tea party movement during an internship in Washington, D.C., in the spring of 2009.

"One goal of these tea party events is education," said Jeff Timmerman, a member of the local tea party. "Through education the American people will be able to be more self-sufficient and less reliant on the federal government, in which too much power is concentrated. What I would like to see is a return of the federal government's power to the local, state and county levels."

Event attendee Tom Young said, "We want to bring the community together and talk about how our government is run on the local level rather than relying on the national leaders for our information, who, in my opinion, keep us divided as a nation. I would like to point out that our young men and women fighting and dying for us overseas cannot be defined as either black or white, they are Americans, because we are one nation, under God. I suspect Dr. Martin Luther King might have agreed with me."

Pertinent address:

2400 County Park Drive, Cape Girardeau, MO