When pressed, some children enjoying festivities and a day off school don't always know who, or why, they are celebrating.
By MEGAN SCOTT
Published January 20, 2004
[Times photo: Jim Damaske]
Neziah Childs, 16 months old, claps with the adults during a speech Monday by the Rev. Julius Ceasar Hope, who spoke during a rally for Martin Luther King Day at Clearwater's Coachman Park.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day coverage in today's Times Drawing on art to find the harmony inside us all By MARY JO MELONE Rain clouds were forming overhead, and people were setting up food tables and chairs along the street where the Martin Luther King Jr. parade would later march, when my friend Tony Collins and I entered St. Petersburg's Straub Park. Wake up and spread King's word to children By ERNEST HOOPER Every year, the Tampa Organization of Black Affairs has its annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership Breakfast on the King holiday at 6:45 a.m. Breaking bread and barriers By COLLEEN JENKINS A moment to honor a civil rights hero brings together blacks and whites sharing a dream and a meal on a cold and rainy day. Signing up for the dream By TOM ZUCCO As people lined streets to celebrate a champion of equality, volunteers worked the crowd to register them to vote. King's job is still far from done By MOLLY MOORHEAD At a rural church, everyday folks were reminded they need to act on his behalf. Some fear King's message gets lost By MEGAN SCOTT When pressed, some children enjoying festivities and a day off school don't always know who, or why, they are celebrating. Bright hopes under cloudy skies By JARED GOLDBERG-LEOPOLD St. Petersburg's 19th parade shows that residents will turn out to honor King even when the outlook's dreary. Some snub Bush speech at FAMU By Associated Press TALLAHASSEE - About a dozen students walked out Monday before Gov. Jeb Bush gave a Martin Luther King Jr. Day address at historically black Florida A&M University. Pointed calls for peace mark King Day By Associated Press ATLANTA - Americans observed Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday with some activists charging that the war in Iraq runs counter to what the civil rights leader stood for.
There was a carnival setting across mid and north Pinellas Monday.
In Dunedin, children painted fiesta banners in Pioneer Park. At Clearwater's Coachman Park, a clown painted clouds on children's cheeks, while other kids took turns jumping in an inflatable moon walk. And in Largo, children played games inside a YMCA.
They were supposed to be celebrating the birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights icon. But many of the children came without knowing much about the man that the holiday commemorates.
"He was a really famous man," said Jacoya Davis, 11, who spent her time at the King celebration in Dunedin making a dream catcher out of a paper plate, brown yarn and feathers. "He's really important in our lives because he did all this stuff, so black people and white people could like each other."
But when asked to elaborate, Jacoya only shrugged her shoulders.
Her lack of knowledge illustrates a greater problem, said the Rev. Julius Hope, national director of religious affairs for the NAACP and a speaker at Clearwater's rally. Children aren't learning much about King in school or from their parents, many of whom were not even born when King was alive, he said.
That makes it hard for children to empathize with King's message, he said.
And that's why organizers strived to attract young people to the celebrations.
In Clearwater, at a breakfast of more than 200 people, one of the speakers was 16-year-old LaTanesia Cason, a sophomore at East Lake High School who spoke about King's achievements.
"If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be able to have some of the friends I have because of their color," said LaTanesia. "Because of him, we can sit anywhere on the bus. We can go to whatever school we want."
Cassaundra Hobson said she brought her niece, Shauniece Sims, 11, to the breakfast at Ridgecrest Elementary so the girl could learn more about King and the struggle for civil rights.
Shauniece spent her morning at the march, the breakfast and other activities. During the breakfast, she said she had a lot to learn about Dr. King.
"All they say is he was a great man," she said. "He died."
When Hobson, of Largo, realized her niece knew very little about the Nobel Peace Prize winner, she said: "I'm going to work with her more."
The celebrations were largely held under threatening skies. In Clearwater, the rain caused the crowd to disperse early. In Dunedin, organizers of the city's first King celebration worried that they would have to call the event off. But everything went as scheduled, including performances by African dancers, a deaf choir and a wheelchair dance troupe.
The crowd was smaller and quieter than Clearwater's, but it was more diverse, with a higher percentage of white people. Children crowded around the dream catchers table and another booth where they painted fiesta banners.
"It's the first time I've seen in Dunedin where there is not all white in one spot," said Sister Dolores Keller, who marched with King in Selma, Ala. "This is so beautiful."
Parades and celebrations may not be the best way to honor King, said Hope, who spoke at the Clearwater rally. Still, it's good that kids participated in the celebrations.
And most seemed to be having fun.
B.J. Yuille, 12, of Largo, attended the breakfast in Largo and marched through the Ridgecrest neighborhood.
"I just wanted to celebrate Martin Luther King," B.J. said. "He made it so we can get better jobs. We have better rights. We're not discriminated (against) as much."
