PORT TOWNSEND — The tolerance of those living in Port Townsend is laudable but never should be taken for granted, said a speaker at a celebration of what would have been the late Martin Luther King’s birthday Monday.
“Port Townsend is a predominantly liberal community and is a politically and socially active community,” said pastoral intern Debra Thorne, who officiated at the service.
“But perhaps we shouldn’t get too self-congratulatory because we are not perfect and still have blinders on,” she said.
“We can serve our beloved Port Townsend by first noticing our own thoughts and behaviors and changing the sometimes subtle words and actions that devalue, dismiss or hurt another human being.”
About 175 people gathered at Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship to celebrate the words and deeds of the civil rights leader, assassinated April 4, 1968, who would have celebrated his 82nd birthday Sunday had he lived.
The two-hour program for the inaugural MLK Day Celebration of Justice and Service included speeches, performances and such songs as “We Shall Overcome.”
Congregation’s voices
That song was performed first by the church’s children’s choir accompanied by harpist Leonard Cole and then sung heartily by the entire congregation as the children filed out underneath an arch formed by outstretched arms.
Asnhie Butler of Port Townsend, who Thorne said was the “driving force” behind the event, spoke about her reason for service.
“I believe one of the threads of Dr. King’s teaching is service and believe that message is as strong today as it was then,” she said.
“I believe that through service, we can learn about each other through our hearts.
“When we try to walk a mile in someone’s shoes, we grow compassion and caring.
“We can assist each other to become allies to gain an education and effect real change.”
The program included four short speeches on specific topics: Colleen Johnson on white privilege, Diane Bommer on economic justice, Libby Palmer on immigration issues and Joseph Bednarik on community service.
Johnson said King made his “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963, and after nearly 50 years, the inequalities he talked about still exist.
“To walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, you need to take yours off,” she said.
“You need to get rid of your own preconceptions to really understand what a person is going through.”
Only the beginning
Bednarik said King’s address is considered to be one of the great speeches of the 20th century but that it was only the beginning.
“What was more powerful was those 200,000 people dispersing,” he said.
“They returned to their communities throughout the country to serve as agents of change who moved the dream toward reality.
“Over the years, they sat at lunch counters, they drank from water fountains, they voted, they marched, they organized.”
Thorne said the event came together smoothly, as everyone who was asked to help said yes.
“There are many people in this community who wake up in the morning ready to serve,” she said.
“Some know exactly what they are going to do that day to make their community a fairer and kindlier place to live and grow their families, while others just carry into their day a commitment to justice and equality that permeates their every word and action.”
Also in Port Townsend on Monday was a screening of “The Beloved Community.”
The film, made by Jefferson Community School students, illustrated some of the ways in which Port Townsend is creating King’s ideal of self-sustaining communities that work together to share resources, said Paulette Lack, head of Jefferson Community School.
Elsewhere on the North Olympic Peninsula, AmeriCorps members teamed up with students and community members in Port Angeles to build “dream quilts” to commemorate the life and work of King.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.