SPEAKER CITES FREEDOM STRUGGLE

Reflecting on a time when "the awful price of freedom" was a more costly venture, Dr. Ronald L. Bobo delivered an impassioned speech inside First Baptist Church Friday night as part of the fifth annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Celebration.

"It appears we have forgotten what it means to struggle for freedom," said Bobo, pastor of West Side Missionary Baptist Church of St. Louis.

"Let me take you back to a time when there were no CDs or personal computers," Bobo said.

Bobo cited acts of raw courage from people like Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers and Mahatma Gandhi as reasons to appreciate the freedom that such courage brought for today's generation.

"We see people who choose not to vote or to go to school today," Bobo said. "These people have forfeited the right of freedom."

Said Bobo, "The only way to achieve true freedom is by paying the awful price." Martin Luther King Jr. paid the awful price, Bobo said. "He refused to take an easy route to achieve freedom."

Bobo's speech was one of the highlights of an event that was dampened but not diminished by a downpour of rain. A candlelight march that was to begin at the University Center and move to First Baptist Church on Broadway was all but canceled. Only a handful of participants braved the rain to carry out the scheduled event.

However, almost 200 attended the Community Celebration at the church.

"It does my heart good to see both black and white attending tonight," Bobo said. "It's so easy for everyone to see this as a black celebration. Martin Luther King Jr. freed America."

The evening culminated in the presentation of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Award, which was bestowed on Charlotte Wade and the May Greene Elementary School.

Said May Greene principal, Dr. Barbara Kohlfeld: "I was just flabbergasted when I heard that we were going to be given this award tonight. I didn't even know we were nominated by someone. But I have to say that this is an honor for the students as much as it is to the faculty and staff. The programs that we are being honored for have to do with the children."

Said Pam Pratt, who nominated May Greene,"I believe that May Greene School is on the cutting edge of genuine education as it responds to the needs of these children by teaching the ideals of justice, freedom, and social betterment through non-violence. The school would be the first to say `we are not there yet,' but we have a strong sense of calling and purpose toward that which we hope to achieve for the children of the community of Cape Girardeau."

Programs started at May Greene that reflect King's belief in non-violence include the Fight-Free Classroom, the Drop Everything and Read program and the Community Caring program.

"The faculty and students at May Greene embody the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King," Janet Smith, who is with the Fellowship of Reconciliation, said.