MEAGER TURNOUT RAISES CONCERNS AT KING ACTIVITIES

VIEWS ON DR. KING: Pastor Leoma Leigh-Crawford comments to over 300 guests attending the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Breakfast Monday morning at the Southeast Missouri State University Center.

CAPE GIRARDEAU It was not who was there, but who wasn't that concerned speakers at a program honoring the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King at Southeast Missouri State University Monday.

About 150 people turned out for the program, held at Academic Auditorium. That number included 42 members of the Black Student Fellowship Choir, who performed at the event.

"I see a lot of empty seats," said Bill Duncan, president of the local NAACP. "I feel a deep feeling of a failure to communicate."

Duncan was one of several people who spoke at the event, which capped a day of activities at the university in celebration of the slain civil rights leader's birthday.

The Rev. Scott Moon, Wesley Foundation pastor, also expressed disappointment at the low turnout, particularly on the part of white students.

"We're on a university campus, but as far as I know, nobody is required to be here.

"We're at a predominately white institution, and yet I see mostly black faces (in the audience)," he said.

Moon said many Americans have praised King, but have not devoted themselves to King's goals of equality for all people. "We name streets in his honor, but we fail to take to the streets.

"Militarism, racism and poverty are still the three ugly heads of the beast that run wild in this world," said Moon.

Debra Mitchell-Braxton, assistant dean of students at Southeast, said the turnout of mostly black students at the event in Academic Auditorium "sends a message that this campus is still segregated in programming."

Following the event, she told a Southeast Missourian reporter that she believes many Americans view King as a black leader, but not as a great American.

She said many people have no understanding of King and the civil rights movement because that part of the nation's history has not been discussed adequately in school.

"I do blame our educational institutions," she said. "I don't think we're doing a good job of communicating that segment of history."

But despite speakers' concerns about the size of the turnout, Mitchell-Braxton said that she was pleased with the day's events.

More than 300 people attended a memorial breakfast at the University Center, and several hundred turned out for a noon tribute in the University Center lobby.

In addition, about 100 people participated in a symbolic freedom march from the Common Pleas Courthouse to Academic Hall late Monday afternoon, prior to the final program in Academic Auditorium.

Some of the loudest applause at the program greeted the announcement that next year King's birthday will be celebrated as an official holiday at the university. It already is a federal holiday.