Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Pointed calls for peace mark King Day

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.

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.

"We have to be concerned not just about us. We have to be concerned about all our brothers and sisters throughout our nation and world," King's son Martin Luther King III said in a service at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where his father preached until he was assassinated in 1968.

"How many Iraqi children have been killed? When will the war end? We all have to be concerned about terrorism, but you will never end terrorism by terrorizing others."

At events across the nation, Americans were urged to work to realize King's dream of peace and equality. King Day activities included an affirmative action rally in Michigan, volunteering campaigns in Washington and Philadelphia, and a Florida protest against a speech by the president's brother.

In Boston, the first woman bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Rev. Vashti Murphy-McKenzie, said the nation should adjust its priorities.

"We can find billions of dollars to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan and we cannot find the money to rebuild the infrastructure of the United States," Murphy-McKenzie said.

Back in Atlanta, King's widow, Coretta Scott King, said: "Peaceful ends can only be reached through peaceful means."

Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin brought forth a hearty standing ovation when she referred to a visit Bush made last week to King's tomb. The visit was picketed by nearly 800 people who said the president should not have come because his policies are inconsistent with King's principles of nonviolence.

Referring to the president, Franklin said, "Perhaps some prefer to honor the dreamer while ignoring or fighting the dream."

But amid the criticisms, there was a tone of hope. Martin Luther King III told congregants that his father would have wanted people to work together for peace and justice even when they seem impossible to achieve.

"He had a policy of zero tolerance for despair and cynicism," King said.

At the University of Michigan, hundreds marched in support of the school's affirmative action policy. The policy is under fire from a group that wants voters to decide the issue in a Nov. 2 referendum.

In Washington, volunteers helped the homeless, delivered meals to homebound people and took part in other projects, saying the best way to honor King's legacy was to give back to the community. Thousands in Philadelphia participated in similar of acts of community service.

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Democratic presidential hopefuls Wesley Clark and Al Sharpton called for the removal of the Confederate flag from State House grounds as they rallied about 2,000 people gathered Monday to honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

"That flag belongs in a museum. It is a flag of the past," said Clark, pointing to the flag and drawing the loudest applause in his speech on continuing King's fight for equity in education, justice and jobs for blacks in America.

The Confederate flag is a sensitive issue in South Carolina. The flag was removed from the capitol dome in 2000 and moved it to its current location at a monument on the State House grounds. Nevertheless, the state National Association for the Advancement of Colored People began a statewide economic boycott in 2000 that they plan to continue until the flag is removed.

"This is not a day that you wave a flag of Confederacy and wave a flag of racism," Sharpton said.

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