Nation honors MLK Jr. on day of Obama inauguration
ATLANTA (AP) - The nation was honoring civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday - the same day it celebrated the inauguration of the first black president to his second term.
A quirk in the calendar pushed President Barack Obama's public swearing-in in Washington onto the national holiday honoring the slain civil rights leader.
In Atlanta, an annual commemorative service was held at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King preached. The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference was the keynote speaker, marking the first time a Latino leader served in the role.
Bernice King, the youngest daughter of the slain civil rights leader, also addressed the crowd. She stressed her father's legacy of peace and nonviolence, describing how he calmed an armed, angry crowd when their home in Montgomery, Ala., was bombed. Her father stood on the porch and urged the crowd to fight not with guns but with Christian love, an act his daughter called "one of the bravest experiences of gun control that we've ever heard of in the history of our nation."
In Washington, several dozen people took turns Monday morning taking pictures with the statue of King before heading to the National Mall, about a 15-minute walk away.
Nicole Hailey, 34, had driven with her family from Monroe, N.C., a six-hour trip that they started at midnight. Hailey attended Obama's first inauguration four years ago and was carrying her Metro ticket from that day, a commemorative one with the president's face printed on it. She said her family made a point of coming to the memorial before staking out a spot for the ceremony.
"It's Martin Luther King's special day," she said. "We're just celebrating freedom."
Jon Barton, 61, and his wife Brooke Stephens, 59, of Roanoke, Va., had knocked on doors to get out the vote for Obama. On Monday they, too, were at the memorial before heading to the mall.
"When you grew up in the '60s, this means a lot," Stephens said.
In Memphis, Tenn., some marked the day with a visit to the National Civil Rights Museum, built on the site of the old Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated April 4, 1968.
Wilbur Cole, a 52-year-old postman from Germantown, said the inauguration adds to the recognition of the King holiday, especially in Memphis. King and Obama, he said, "are the great men of this era."
Joyce Oliver said she came to the museum Monday to enjoy a slice of history and that the inauguration sheds more light on the King holiday and his legacy.
"This is the dream that Dr. King talked about in his speech," Oliver said. "We see history in the making. This is the second term for a black president. This is something he spoke about, that all races come together as one."
A quirk in the calendar pushed President Barack Obama's public swearing-in in Washington onto the national holiday honoring the slain civil rights leader.
In Atlanta, an annual commemorative service was held at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King preached. The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference was the keynote speaker, marking the first time a Latino leader served in the role.
Bernice King, the youngest daughter of the slain civil rights leader, also addressed the crowd. She stressed her father's legacy of peace and nonviolence, describing how he calmed an armed, angry crowd when their home in Montgomery, Ala., was bombed. Her father stood on the porch and urged the crowd to fight not with guns but with Christian love, an act his daughter called "one of the bravest experiences of gun control that we've ever heard of in the history of our nation."
In Washington, several dozen people took turns Monday morning taking pictures with the statue of King before heading to the National Mall, about a 15-minute walk away.
Nicole Hailey, 34, had driven with her family from Monroe, N.C., a six-hour trip that they started at midnight. Hailey attended Obama's first inauguration four years ago and was carrying her Metro ticket from that day, a commemorative one with the president's face printed on it. She said her family made a point of coming to the memorial before staking out a spot for the ceremony.
"It's Martin Luther King's special day," she said. "We're just celebrating freedom."
Jon Barton, 61, and his wife Brooke Stephens, 59, of Roanoke, Va., had knocked on doors to get out the vote for Obama. On Monday they, too, were at the memorial before heading to the mall.
"When you grew up in the '60s, this means a lot," Stephens said.
In Memphis, Tenn., some marked the day with a visit to the National Civil Rights Museum, built on the site of the old Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated April 4, 1968.
Wilbur Cole, a 52-year-old postman from Germantown, said the inauguration adds to the recognition of the King holiday, especially in Memphis. King and Obama, he said, "are the great men of this era."
Joyce Oliver said she came to the museum Monday to enjoy a slice of history and that the inauguration sheds more light on the King holiday and his legacy.
"This is the dream that Dr. King talked about in his speech," Oliver said. "We see history in the making. This is the second term for a black president. This is something he spoke about, that all races come together as one."
King was a pacifist, lest we forget, who would have opposed both Iraq wars. When he died he was working as a community organizer for a union in Memphis, something for which conservatives would hate him even more for today than they did back then. And not everybody has forgotten that he was assassinated by a redneck.
I guess, when you can't be great, you can always assume the greatness of others.
I don't think MLK would have considered Obama to be one of his home boys.
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
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"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
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"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men. "
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Dr King was indeed a man of great wisdom and vision.
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Our country desperately needs someone of his stature and social intellect to come forward today.Â
MLK was 10 times the man 0bama is if you can consider 0bama a man.
@RalphCramden Obama's a man? I think like a lot of the boys of today's generation, he was raised with dolls, easy bake ovens, and subject to the basic woosification of American boys in general. I can't wait for better weather to take my grandson on his first squirrel hunt with the new Henry!
 @flyroy Â
You are right about 0bama. He is a metrosexual of the first order. He has no idea what it's like for the common working person. I think we call them elitists.
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Going out with my grandsons this spring to shoot sage rats. I got them all 10/22's with some high capacity mags and a nice 4x scope. We will be having a lot of fun.
Who cares?