Keynote speaker says Martin Luther King Jr.'s work isn't done

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s iconic "I Have a Dream" speech played over the sound system as congregants filled the St. James A.M.E. Church for the 26th annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Celebration.

Organizer Debra Mitchell-Braxton took to the microphone as the opening hymn, "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," began.

"Sing out! Remember those who fought and died to make sure we can assemble here today," she urged the congregation. "Put a little spirit in it! We're not at a funeral."

Banners with King's face were draped across the choir stage and lectern and his portraits hung in the windows as the people sang and settled in for a gospel reading.

The first was from the Gospel of John, where Jesus washes the feet of his disciples and tasks them with washing the feet of others. It was chosen to illustrate the theme of the night: Work remains to be done.

Debra Mitchell-Braxton, left, presents a Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Award to Clara Lucille Daniels at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Celebration on Sunday at St. James AME Church in Cape Girardeau. The Rev. Renita Marie Lamkin, the event's keynote speaker, looks on. (Fred Lynch)

After the singing of what is dubbed as the "Negro national Anthem," "Lift Every Voice and Sing," a song from the Rev. Calvin Bird and poem recital by congregant Leslie Washington, the Rev. Renita M. Lamkin took the pulpit to remind those assembled the civil-rights movement is not over.

In her sermon, she retold the history of racial subjugation -- from chattel slavery through Jim Crow laws to the civil-rights movement of the 1950s and '60s.

"Dr. King was not the movement," she said. "He was the voice crying out in the wilderness, saying, 'Prepare thee the way of the Lord.'"

She pointed out racial inequality exists in many forms -- from opportunities to compensation to disproportionate suspension rates even in Cape Girardeau public schools.

"The civil-rights movement didn't have a happy ending," she said. "It ain't ended yet!"

She warned the crowd against complacency, telling them the march of progress through history does not lead to good inevitably, and change is something that takes work and sacrifice. She said the responsibility for diligence rests with congregations such as the one gathered in St. James A.M.E.

"The movement is you," she said. "The movement is alive. The movement must keep on moving."

After the sermon, Mitchell-Braxton announced the winners of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Service Awards.

Clara Lucille Daniels, one of the first black students to graduate from Cape Girardeau Central High School after it was integrated in 1955, was the first recipient for her years of service in the church and at Saint Francis Medical Center.

Mike Bowers, youth director at the Salvation Army, was presented an award for his work there.

The family of the late Dr. Ed Spicer was given the final service award for his accomplishments serving minority students as a faculty member of Southeast Missouri State University. Spicer served as the university's first affirmative-action officer from 1977 to 1991.

Bowers' wife Debbie, along with Southeast Missourian photographer Fred Lynch, were awarded certificates of appreciation for their service to the community.

Mitchell-Braxton urged the congregation not to take Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a holiday.

"The biggest thing we want to do is remember, reflect and rededicate our lives of the work he did," she said. "We've made some progress, but we seem to be going backward some."

She said instead, people should "get off their duff" and serve the needs of the Cape community, be it volunteering, buying books for a college student or making sure the needy have enough food to eat.

"At one point in our lives, we're all going to be in the valley," she said. "There's so many things we can do to help those less fortunate."

The service closed with the singing of "We Shall Overcome" as the congregation crossed the aisle to hold hands.

tgraef@semissourian.com

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