DR. KING COMMEMORATED AT ANNUAL OAK PARK EVENT

By ERIC LINDEN

Readings, rap and remembrances. That's how a portion of Oak Park Sunday
recalled the memory and legacy of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Toss in a stirring rendition by Oak Park and River Forest High School
Martin Luther King oratorical contest winner Gianna Baker, a reference
to an appropriate message in the current film "The Hurricane" and more
and Dr. King's memory received a full celebration Jan. 16 at the Fox Rec.
Center in Fox Park, Jackson Boulevard and Oak Park Avenue.

Oak Park does not have an official public remembrance of Dr. King, so
the closest thing is the annual King event held Sunday by Project Unity,
the citizens group that works to build "a cross-cultural community" in
the village, and the Baha'is of Oak Park, part of the national faith
that believes "racism is the most challenging issue confronting
America." Whether at village hall or, as on Sunday, at a park rec. center
or at other venues, Project Unity and Baha'i always mark the day with
diversity of ages, races and genders and with heartfelt recollections
about slain civil rights leader King and his work toward racial
equality.

The singing, dancing and performance art came from Good Vibes, a group
of young people that travel around spreading the message of issues, such
as racism, that young people must address. And the performances were
punctuated by Fred Jackson, who chairs the Spiritual Assembly of Bahai's
of Oak Park and who delivered several readings from Dr. King's speeches.
Those works were part of a collection selected for publication by King's
widow, Coretta Scott King, because they called for "positive,
constructive action" to promote Dr. King's efforts to have people judged
by, according to the reverend's famous "I Have a Dream" speech, "by the
content of their character and not the color of their skin."

Jackson said the Baha'i anti-racist principles resemble King's, as does
the mission of Project Unity, which was formed to combat "myths" about
life in integrated Oak Park and also to improve relations between adults
of different races in the village. Karen Grimes, a Project Unity
co-founder, on Sunday said adults reacted to a need expressed by their
children who asked for adults to be role models in interracial
relationships.

In a more personal message at Sunday's King program, Grimes  recounted,
among other things, how "The Hurricane," the movie about wrongly
imprisoned African American former prize fighter Ruben "Hurricane"
contained the poignant line that "it was hate that put me in jail and
it's love that'll get me out."

In her presentation, Baker, an OPRF senior who is an honor roll student
and a winner in the ACTSO academic and arts competition held each year
by OPRF and the NAACP Oak Park branch, called on current citizens to
think of the 14-year-old King holiday as "more than just a day off," to
rededicate to promoting King's legacy and to resolve to "walk forward
today and every day."

"Very few people say and do the right thing at the right time, and Dr.
King did that," said Stanley Buford, a consultant on racial matters and
co-president of the APPLE parents group African American Parents for
Purposeful Leadership in Education, in his keynote address about Dr.
King. Buford said also that, "I'm here to tell you the struggle is not
over" to realize Dr. King's dream, and Buford also called on citizens to
fight the three factors that continue to sabotage racial equality:
apathy, ignorance and misinformation. Buford furthermore invoked the
national call to perform community service in Dr. King's name.

"Everybody can be great because everybody can serve," said Buford, who
in addition to his APPLE post is president of Terkat Consultants Inc.
and an instructor in organizational management at Concordia University
in River Forest.

Good Vibes performed both at the start and the close of Sunday's
festivities. Punctuated by rap, hip-hop, poetry, dance and other art
forms, the group on Sunday struck out at every turn against themes such
as society's need to "take a stand against racism."

"That was a joyful noise," Jackson said about Good Vibes' performance,
which was seen by slightly more than 50 Oak Park residents, including
Village President Barbara Furlong, Village Trustee Rick Kuner, Village
Clerk Sandra Sokol and Sherlynn Reid, the recently retired director of
village hall's Community Relations Department.