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Focus on the dream
By ALEX LEARY © St. Petersburg Times, published January 16, 2001 CRYSTAL RIVER -- The T-shirt he pulled over his head read "Redeem the Dream," and the Rev. Carl Gadson was going all out to do just that.
In doing this, Gadson made it abundantly clear that, while the vision espoused by Martin Luther King Jr. has led to significant advancement for all people, this nation has a way to go. "Racism still exists in America but guess what, we cannot stop," Gadson said Monday as he stood before several hundred people assembled for the city's fifth annual celebration of the birth of the civil rights leader. King was killed by an assassin's bullet in 1968. "My sisters and brothers, we can learn to walk together, we can talk together, we can even live in the same neighborhood," Gadson said. "But we've got to lay down our prejudices, we've got to lay down our hatred. We've got to join together as one. Together we stand and divided we fall." Gadson, who is pastor of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Sparr, which is north of Ocala, called on African-Americans to get involved in local politics and also to exercise their right to vote. "There needs to be some elected brothers and sisters in the government of Citrus County," he said to a cheering crowd. The celebration, sponsored by the Eveready Club, began at Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church on NE Third Avenue. Several dozen people gathered there and sang We Shall Overcome on their way to Copeland Park, which is named after Frederick Copeland, who marched with King in Washington, D.C., in 1963. Before they dined on fried mullet and hamburgers, the crowd listened attentively as several religious and community leaders reflected on King's legacy. Speakers ranged from 87-year-old Leroy Bellamy, pastor of Grace Temple Church of the Living God in Floral City, to 8-year-old Alexzandria Hampton, a student at Rock Crusher Elementary. "I ask you today, what is your dream?" said Hampton, whose confidence and words belied her youth. "Each one of us has a purpose in this life. Which one will you choose? The one that is easy or the one that may be difficult where you can make a difference? It's always easy to be a follower; I choose to lead and let my little light shine," she said. Earlier, Hampton's mother, Tawana, sang Lift Every Voice and Sing: "Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us / Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us / Facing the rising sun of our new day begun / Let us march on till victory is won." The event attracted local politicians, including Crystal River City Council member Mike Gudis, County Commissioner Josh Wooten and School Superintendent David Hickey. As he sat on a park bench, Dominique Washington, a student at Inverness Middle School, reflected on King. "He made it easier on us," he said, adding that reading about King makes him feel "equal to everybody, not just out there by myself."
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
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