Portland observer., January 13, 1988, Page 25, Image 25

Section II, January 13, 1988, Portland Observer, Page 15
Dr. Hosea L. Williams Speaks at Marriott
by Mattie Ann Callier-Spears
Monday, January 11, 1988, will always be a high point in my life, be­
cause I got to meet one of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s soldiers.
The Bonneville Power Administration's EEO office sponsored a Martin
Luther King, Jr., program at the plush and elegant Marriott Hotel in down­
town Portland. The theme was: ''Ending the Violence of Poverty, Hunger,
Apartheid, War, and Terrorism Through Creative Nonviolent Actions''.
There were two programs: one in the morning at 9:30 to 11:00 a.m.,
and then an afternoon program at 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. The morning session
was open to the public and was very sparsely attended. On-the-other-hand,
the afternoon session which was open to the BPA employees and employers,
was well attended. Both sessions were enjoyed by all in attendance.
Dr. Hosea L. Williams is a very dymanic speaker. You are spell bound
and speechless because of the content of his renderance.
The Timesound Ensemble, directed by Mr. Ken Berry, presented musi­
cal selections representative of the theme. The voices and musicians fea­
tured in the group were Tracey Clay, Tyfani Osborne, Mattie Spears, Danny
Osborne and Ken Berry.
Representative Margaret Carter, President of the Regional Council of
Blacks in Government, was a part of the program. She remarked that We
should remember that the struggle is not over. We must embrace one an­
other through these trying times. Yesterday we watched as time changed
and change is still taking place. Don't give upl If we unite, we can stand
and we will be heard."
When Dr. Hosea L. Williams went to be with Dr. King and his move­
ment, he had just left a U.S. Government position as a research chemist.
He had decided that after 12 years he had been allowed to reach a certain
level and was not going to be allowed to move any higher than he had
already risen. He got tired of all the bowing and weaving. He as a fighter;
not one to just sit back and take and take and take — whatever they wanted
you to have.
These are excerpts from his message: "D r. King means a lot to me. He
is not my God, but I found God in him. I have trouble with this King Holiday.
Why trouble? Because I feel that if we are going to use this time to raise
money in our stores and commercial endeavors, then we are celebrating
King's Birthday for all the wrong reasons. King does not need to be recog­
nized on his birthday; but, the world needs to be recongized and all of its
problems. The poverty, the crime, the mothers with no food to feed their
children, the elderly with not enough money to meet their medical needs,
and so on and so on it goes.
; "W hen I was in the White House, working as a voice of the people, I
was told by the President that I could speak up and tell him when he was
doing something wrong towards the people. Well, one day I told him that
the Black people saw him as the devil with big horns sticking up from his
head, blocking all the attempts and strides of the Black communities. The
President turned and looked at me, as others in the room smiled or just
laughed right out loud. The next thing you know, I was out of the White
House. I guess that was too much voice; but, it was what they wanted said,
and I presented it as I saw it and heard it. Before this had happened, I re­
member the occasion when I asked President Reagan to make King s birth­
day a holiday. The answer was "N O !" Carter wasn't any better and he was
more closely related to King than Reagan was, and his answer was the same:
"N O !"
Dr. Hosea L. W illiam s
"I came up on a plantation. When I was 19 years old, I was fighting in
a war (World War II). I was taught to hate, and kill or be killed. Then, here
I am trying to follow a man who preaches and teaches nothing but peace
and love. Do you know that for a long time when I first reached Alabama to
join King's group, King did not even meet me or see me, because I couldn't
believe the things I was seeing him do - letting people spit on him, letting
people push him down (and he kept getting up and marching on) and all
kinds of things. Not this boy!
"When I finally joined the group there was Andrew Young, Jesse Jack-
son, Ralph Abernathy and two others. We were a group to be reckoned
with. This small-framed man orchestrated Williams, Abernathy, Jackson
and Young — laid out a plan before us; and he got us to work together for
a common cause.
"King was not a very big person. He was a small-framed, frail man with
a big heart and genuine love.
"This nation of ours is engaged in a war right now. The war is not a
Black war, but an American war.
"A ll the garbage we threw out of the South wound up here in the North­
west. Right now we are working in Forsythe County trying to overturn this
archaic concept of theirs: that no Blacks can live or work in their county.
"Right now, you know what I worry about? I worry about my grand­
children. We have become so complacent and apathetic about everything.
"Do you know that 30% of this nation is Black and 70% of the prisons
is Black? Yes! We do have a problem and it is solvable; but, we must work
to g e th e r. I is so sad to go to the prisons and see so many of our young
Black males corralled and controlled. Do you know that we are just where
they (white Neo-Fascists) want us? This is truly sad. The struggle is still on;
but, the struggle won't always be an uphill struggle.
"A ll across the country we use King's Birthday to raise money when we
should be using this time to rededicate ourselves to his dream. As long as
there is an American that is not free, w e are not free. No matter whether
it's Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indians, Mexican, White or Black — we are
all a part of the American family. We need to help one another.
"When I gave up my job as research chemist to follow King, he taught
me love. Do you realize that the more you love others and help others —
the more love will come back to you. You receive an escalation of hatred
from violence.
"The movement is not dead. Right now our country is in great turmoil.
Forsythe County is very, very bad. Idaho and parts of Southern Oregon
are bad. As long as we have hatred and violence being practiced as it is
being done in Forsythe County, there is still a lot of work to be done.
"D o you realize that we are not as free as we were 100 years ago. At
that time, we had six Lieutenant Governors and two Senators. Study your
history so you can see from whence we've come to our present day situation.
"M artin Luther King, Jr. totally believed in peace. Don't allow all what
he did and his death to be in vain. Don't get too comfortable. Remember
your past. The future of our young people is left up to us. If we don't teach
them about what went on in our past and the struggles we had to endure,
they will not understand the fight and what we're up against — and will be —
unless things change for the better. It cannot happen if you sit by and say
that 'I've got mine, now you get yours' or 'What you expect me to do?'
There is so much that can be done. But, we have to protect our childrens'
minds before the system gets to them.
"I want to make it plain. I love America and all the people that dwell
therein.
"I thank God for Dr. King. You see, King had truly conquered the fear
of death and was truly able to love people. This small, frail, quiet man made
my belly flutter like a leaf on a tree when he went to this slum and encoun­
tered these ruffians. Or, the time when we arrived at an airport and a limou­
sine was there to pick us up. We looked around and did not see Dr. King.
When we got to the church we discovered that Dr. King had ridden with
the deacon in his old beat-up car, when he could have ridden in a limo.
When asked why he chose to travel in that manner, his response was, "I
must always live among the people I profess to love.'
"Join us in a rededication of his dream and never give up, for w e are a
great people."
IN OBSERVANCE
MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY
Pacific Northwest Bell
A IIJCWEST COMPANY