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Local Peace Activists Inspired by King's Work
Goals come with
sacrifice, struggle
by C harity P rater
T he P ortland O bserver
Another year has passed and one of the
great memorialized holidays of the New
Year will soon be here. Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. Commemoration Day.
The civil-rights leader’s words and ac­
complishments are true inspiration for a
group of local peace activists campaign­
ing for a proposed U.S. Department of
Peace that would work beside the Depart­
ment of Justice to reduce violence and
advocate for equality issues in this coun­
try and others.
As Dr. Martin Luther King has said,
"Human progress is neither automatic nor
inevitable... Every step toward the goal of
justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and
struggle; the tireless exertions and passion­
ate concern of dedicated individuals.”
One of those tireless and passionate
volunteers to today is Ken Bryan, the
volunteer coordinator for the Peace De­
partment campaign in the Portland-metro
area.
“I have been volunteering for the effort
on an average of 10-15 hours a week for
over two years,” says Bryan, “I got in­
volved because 1 feel like my generation
failed in a big way. My son’s world is more
threatened than mine was and 1 didn't
make the effort to get involved when I was
younger.”
A U.S. Department of Peace would be
put in place to assist the government with
issues like prisoner rehabilitation, gang
violence, global conflicts like the wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan, protecting and dis­
tributing resources, educating children and
many other means for violence through
continued
on page US
photo by C harity P rater /T he P ortland O bserver
Ken Bryan (left) and Connie Saylor are activists working to reduce violence in the United States and other countries by the creation o f a U.S. Peace Department.
Living a Renewed Dream R K R A
by R aymond R f . ndleman
T he P ortland O bserver
Two pastors, one the icon of the mod­
em civil-rights movement, and the other
his own father, are major influences today
on a northeast Portland m an's ministry.
Pastor Lamar Hardy of Freedom As­
sembly Church of Christ said his transfor­
mative experience began with adream while
asleep during a time in his life when he
thought his life was happy, working in a
plumbing-supply company.
He saw himself happily in charge of an
enthusiastic, diverse church congrega­
tion. At first, he passed over the thoughts
as extreme and kept them under wraps, but
in what he calls a series of miracles, he
found himself on the way to priesthood
less than a year later.
For the community at Freedom Assem­
bly Church of God in Christ. Hardy found
a path that generated similar types of initial
uncertainty and eventual accomplishment
to the route imagined for America by King.
“He was a great inspiration to I'm think­
ing not only me, but every preacher,”
Hardy says. "He had a passion for what he
believed in and went the whole nine yards."
Hardy's transition from a regular mem-
photoba
R aymond R endi . eman /T iie P ortland O bserver
Looking to the life o f Martin Luther King Jr. as well as to his own father for inspiration. Pastor Lamar Hardy leads
services every Sunday at the Freedom Assembly Church o f God in Christ, 986 N.E. Beech St.
Education's
a civil right
Dr. King
Timeline
PCC program
offers gateway
to college
Chronicling the
civil-rights
leader's life
See page BI9
See page B2
I
her of the church took shape when its
leader at the time, Hardy’s father, realized
a detail that Hardy thought he had kept
secret. The late Bishop Hardy announced
that the former name of the church on
Beech Street, Mt. Sinai Temple, would
change to Freedom Assembly, which the
younger Hardy's dream had predicted.
As subsequent generations follow in
the civil-rights movement's footsteps by
remembering influential leaders like King,
Hardy also looks to his father's memory
for guidance.
“He was a little guy in stature, but he
was great big and tall in spirit," Hardy
says. “He stood up to the task, and he
prevailed and handed down, as did Martin
Luther King.”
Soon after the church name change.
Hardy grew in church positions of increas­
ing leadership. His dreams continued to
tell him that wonderful things would hap­
pen if he worked toward a church where all
types of people were joyous together.
“God has been fulfilling all that to the
very tee,” he says.
The spiritual road presents many chal-
continued
on page US
King's Jail
Letters
Inspire
Volunteers
send books to
help prisoners
See page BIS
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