preached during his lifetime.
”If Dr. King could speak to us today, he would tell us that it does not matter how much we disapprove of another person’s point of view, there is never a reason to deny another human being the respect he or she deserves,” Lewis said.
The Rev. Raphael Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer, called for members of Congress to show solidarity during the State of the Union Address this month. Quoting the Bible and Abraham Lincoln, Warnock said, ”A house divided against itself cannot stand.
”Maybe after Arizona what our children need to see is us sitting together,” Warnock said.
In Philadelphia, hundreds of volunteers including Mayor Michael Nutter helped refurbish computers for needy residents as part of the city’s ”day of service” events to mark the King holiday. The effort was part of the $25 million federally funded Freedom Rings Partnership, which aims to deliver 5,000 computers over the next few years to people in the city, where 41 percent of residents lack Internet access.
In South Carolina, the day was an opportunity for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to underscore its opposition to a Confederate flag that flies outside the Statehouse. It was moved from atop the Capitol dome in 2000 after protests by the group.
”Take down that flag,” North Carolina NAACP President, the Rev. William Barber, told the audience at a rally in Columbia. He argued the flag’s presence disrespects people not only in South Carolina but across the nation. Critics say it represents slavery because it was flown by the southern rebel states in the Civil War.
King is the only American who was not a U.S. president to have a federal holiday named in his honor. He has been recognized on the third Monday in January since 1986.
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