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T he P ortland O bserver « J anuary 10, 1996
P age C9
KING SPECIAL ON PARAGON CABLE
A future King: Coretta Scott (middle row, second from right) with classmates at Antioch College in Ohio,
before she went on to study at the New England Conservatory o f Music. She had planned to pursue a
career as a singer before she met and married King and became an active figure in the civil rights
movement.
Paragon Cable w ill carry continu­
ous, live coverage o f "Keep Living
the Dream: A Tribute to M artin
Luther King Jr.” on Jan. 15 from
11:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Paragon
Channel 38.
World Arts Foundation w ill host
Oregon's largest M arlin Luther King
Jr. Celebration at Jefferson High
School for the Performing Arts
Highlights o f the 11 th annual
event include a nationwide bell ring­
ing ceremony at noon, Portland’ s
Cultural Recreation Band, the Port­
land Metropolitan Youth Mass Choir
and Miss Black Oregon Donna
Knight
Featured artists include Tracy
"Trey Harris, the Northwest Afrikan
Ballet and the world renowned gos­
pel choir Total Experience from Se­
attle, Wash
In a related campaign, Paragon is
cablecasting “ On the King Holiday
Help Somebody,” a 30-second pub-
lie service announcement featuring
I'ony Bennett, Edward James Olmos,
Lauren Hutton and George Foreman
The Oregon Commission On Black Affairs
Urges you to live the dream.
Living The Dream Pledge
In honor ot Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life and work, I
pledge to live my life consistent with his philosophies
of serving my community by helping those in need and
striving to promote equality and justice.
On the Martin Luther King, Jr. Federal Holiday and
every day, I commit to living the dream by:
Loving, not hating
Embracing diversity, not intolerance
Promoting service to others, not indifference.
ASSASSINATION
Continued from C8
▲
building’s high tin roof, and the wind
seized the shutters at the windows,
causing them to slam noisily back
and forth. When King entered, the
crowd raised a mighty cheer.
Great things were happening in
Memphis, he said. Indeed, they were
happening all around the world. If God
were to give him the chance to live at
any time in human history, “ I would
turn to the Alm ighty and say, “ I f you
allow me to live just a few years in the
second half o f the twentieth century, I
w ill be happy."
In A fric a and A sia, in New
Y o rk and A tla n ta , and now in
M e m p h is , the oppressed had
arisen and they crie d, “ We want
to be free.” Nonviolence was the way
for them. Today, he said, the issue was
no longer a choice “ between violence
and nonviolence-it’s nonviolence or
nonexistence!”
King thanked God for allowing him
to be in Memphis for the march on
Monday. Then his voice became softei,
more tender, as he recalled the tim e
he had been stabbed in New York in
1958. The blade o f the knife had come
so close to his heart that a tiny move­
ment, a sneeze even, would have killed
hint. A girl had written him to say how
happy she was that he did not sneeze,
“ I too am happy I didn’t sneeze.”
I f he had sneezed, he w ou ld
not have been around fo r the sit-
ins and freedom rides o f 1960 and
1961, he said. He would not have seen
the blacks o f A lb an y, Georgia,
“ straighten their backs up” in 1962 as
part o f a campaign to desegregate the
city. I f he had sneezed, he would not
have been part o f the struggle in B ir ­
m in g h a m and S elm a, and he
wou Id never have spoken o f his dream
for a free and just America at the
Lincoln Memorial in 1963.
“ I f I had sneezed,” he said, “ I
wouldn’t have been in Memphis to see
a great community rally around those
brothers and sisters who are suffering.
“ I'm so happy that I d id n ’ t
sneeze.”
O u ts id e , b ursts o f th u n d e r
punctuated the ham m ering o f the
rain But no one was paying the
storm any m ind. E ve ryon e ’ s a t­
tention was on the man in the
p u lp it, whose eyes were w a te r­
ing and whose brow was drenched
w ith sweat, whose next words
presaged what w o u ld take place
on the fo llo w in g day.
K in g ’ s voice wavered ever so
s lig h tly as he revealed the bom b
threat on the plane that m orn in g
and the w arnings against his life
in M em phis:
But it re a lly doesn’ t m atter
w ith me now, because I ’ ve been
to the m ountain top. And I d o n 't
m ind. L ik e anybody, I w ou ld lik e
to liv e a long life . L o n g e v ity has
its place But I'm not concerned
about that now. I ju s t want to do
G o d ’ s w ill. And H e ’ s a llow ed me
to go up to the m ountain, and
I ’ ve looked over, and I ’ ve seen
the prom ised land. I may not get
there w ith you. But I want you to
know to nig ht, that we, as a people
w ill get to the prom ised land.
And I ’ m so happy to n ig h t. I ’ m
not w o rrie d about a nything. I'm
not fearing any man. M ine eyes
have seen the g lo ry o f the co m ­
ing o f the Lord.
We Must Keep
Living The Dream
Each and every one of us must do our part. And McDonald's ®
joins the community in dedicating ourselves to keeping
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's dream alive. As we celebrate
his birthday, we recognize the fact that the
man who leaves the world a better place, never leaves.
McDonald's
1992 McDonald's Corporation