Avoyelles African-American leaders share thoughts on Martin Luther King Jr.

A half-century ago, this nation was embroiled in efforts to secure basic civil rights for all of its citizens and dealing with protests of the unpopular Vietnam War.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was on the front line in both of those issues.
King was president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. For most of the 1960s he was the undisputed leader of the Civil Rights Movement that sought to end laws that segregated the races and made it difficult for blacks to register to vote. He also led campaigns to address poverty and economic discrimination against blacks. In the years before his assassination in Memphis on April 4, 1968, King became an outspoken critic of the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.
King was born on Jan. 15, 1929. The third Monday of January, which falls around his birthday, became a federal holiday in 1986.
Many Avoyelles municipalities honor the late Dr. King with streets bearing his name. Mansura, Marksville, Simmesport, Cottonport and Bunkie all have streets named for the civil rights leader. These streets in Bunkie, Marksville, Simmesport and Cottonport are also located near former African-American schools. In Bunkie, Carver High School was once located near Martin Drive. Dunbar High School in Simmesport was located on the current Martin Luther King Drive. Bethune High School in Marksville was located at the site that most recently housed Marksville Middle School and is on that city’s Martin Luther King Drive. Prior to the 1920’s, African-American students in Cottonport received their education in a wooden schoolhouse located near Martin Luther King and Sycamore streets.
We asked some of the leaders of Avoyelles Parish’s African-American community to share their thoughts on King and what his efforts have meant to blacks in this parish, state and nation.

CHARLES JONES
“I think we all admire Dr. King and his efforts and accomplishments in the mid-1960s,” Police Jury President Charles Jones said. “Those achievements, which led to such laws as the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, prepared the way to improve African-Americans’ place in the nation’s society.”
Jones said the most important thing about King’s work was its emphasis on non-violence.
“It was not about burning down someone’s store or hurting people,” Jones said. “He did not advocate attacking people personally. It was peaceful.”
King was also able to help others understand “what the African-American community was going through. By the way he conducted himself, he showed others that the African-Americans really were disadvantaged and discriminated against in this country. He showed the nation that laws were needed to address those conditions.”
Jones said King’s leadership was able to counter the actions “of some really bad groups that were out there” advocating and engaging in violent protests.
“There were some incidents, such as the riots in Los Angeles, but America was big enough to rise above that,” Jones continued. “We are a nation of mixed cultures and we were able to come together.”
He said there “is still a long way to go and things to do” before all vestiges of racial discrimination are a thing of the past.
“There is still what I call ‘institutional racism’ in such places as the court system, with action needed on sentencing guidelines,” Jones said. “There is still action needed in job opportunities for African-Americans. There are also other areas of concern.”
Jones said it is appropriate to celebrate King’s birthday with a federal holiday “to honor him for his efforts and sacrifice, but also to honor what he fought to achieve.”

CRAIG FOSTER
“As we pause to honor the rich legacy of service of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., America owes a great debt to him,” Craig Foster said. “Through non-violent disobedience, Dr. King enabled America to embark on a multi-step journey of recovery to break its dependence on segregation and to reclaim and redeem its soul.”
Foster, a retired educator who currently represents the Bunkie area on the Avoyelles Port Commission, said those who admire King for leading the Civil Rights fight “should also remember that the cornerstone of his success was his close working relationship with many diverse groups during the Civil Rights Movement.”
Foster said that even though King’s life ended on April 4, 1968, “his legacy lives on through improved racial, social and political equality.
“If you wish to remember Dr. King during this annual day of remembrance, do it with a kind deed or word to someone who needs you,” Foster continued. “If you do so, then Dr. King will live forever.
“So, I encourage and challenge all humankind to express itself in support of Dr. King’s legacy of peace and non-violence as we celebrate his 88th year birthday on January 16, 2017.”

ALLEN HOLMES
Allen Holmes, a past president of the Avoyelles NAACP chapter, said society as a whole is better now than it was in the 1960s because of the Civil Rights Movement.
“Anytime you have a progressive drive to improve life, it makes a positive difference in society,” Holmes said. “Today we have a black mayor elected in Simmesport, a black mayor in Mansura. That would not have been possible 50 years ago.
“But it is not about blacks being elected to political offices,” Holmes said. “It’s about people of all races coming together in their community to work for the good of all.”
Holmes said he is old enough to remember signs on businesses in the parish designating areas for whites and for blacks. He said the parish courthouse had restrooms for whites only and for blacks only.
“The Jim Crow laws separated us into black and white,” Holmes said. “We don’t have that anymore. That is gone. Our young people today don’t understand that such things ever existed. It is a dark stain on America’s history, this crazy idea that there should be two societies in this country.
“We have come a long way,” Holmes continued. “Through time and effort of people dedicated to making us a true Judeo-Christian society, we have come a long way.”
Holmes said he would like to see the phrase “black and white” eliminated from the political phrasebook.
“We should not be considered black or be considered white,” he said. “We are Americans with a proud heritage. We have had our ups and downs, but we have always risen to the challenges that face us.”
Holmes said King brought the darkness of racism into the living rooms of America where it could be seen in the light.
He said others did the same thing. In Avoyelles, Frank Gallerson of Bunkie and Howard Desselle of Marksville challenged the parish registrar of voters’ refusal to let them register to vote, which helped open up blacks’ right to vote in the parish.
“I want to reaffirm that we need to get away from referring to things as black issues and white issues, Holmes said. “There is no difference between white politicians and black politicians. There are some crazy ones of both colors, but there is no difference between them.”

REV. CHARLES GUILLORY
Rev. Charles Guillory, pastor of St. John Community Church-Baptist, said there has been significant change in the areas of equality and access of all people to all services in society since the King era of the 1950s and 1960s.
“There is still an ongoing problem with race relations,” Guillory noted.”My concern today is with the mindset of some as it relates to economic issues.”
Guillory said there is no longer a prevailing attitude as to whether one race is inferior to another or is not due the same rights and opportunities as another race.
“As a result of Dr. King’s efforts, everyone realizes that we are all God-created beings. Everyone agrees that human beings are human beings and every person has God-given abilities and rights,” Guillory said. “The problem is that economic concerns are taking precedence over social concerns.”
He said an attitude of selfishness and self-centeredness causes those in the middle class to question whether the poor should be receiving the public assistance they receive. At the same time, there is support for giving tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans.
The issue is not blatantly race-based, Guillory said, but because a large percentage of blacks are in the lower socio-economic class, it impacts African-Americans to a greater degree. Also, because a lower percentage of blacks are in the top economic class, those tax breaks do not benefit the black community.
Guillory said the problem can be characterized as someone who was born into an economically privileged family and sees taxes to support social programs as an unfair taking of his money.
“They say, ‘’Ihad and now I don’t have,’” Guillory said. “They don’t want to share.”
Guillory said everyone wants to “pursue the American dream. It’s the way it is being pursued by some that is the problem.”

REV. LESLIER DRAPER III
Simmesport Mayor Leslie Draper III shares something in common with King. They were involved in the political arena but were pastors first.
He said King’s vocation as a “man of God, a pastor and a visionary” are often overlooked by people who focus on his efforts in the public eye.
“As a pastor, he believed in the equal value of all people,” Draper said. “He fought for equality for all people, white and black. He was an emancipator.”
Draper said King laid the foundation on which today’s improved race relations was built. However, “Dr. King also stood on the shoulders of others who came before him and worked with many who remained in the background.”
Draper said King’s message not only relates to this parish today, “but rings throughout Avoyelles, I believe it is given a clearer, more open ear than it was in times past.
“The opportunities he dreamed about we often take for granted today,” Draper continued. “I believe honoring him with this federal holiday is the least we can do to honor him and what he stood for.”
Draper said that King, as a man, “is gone, but his vision for this country lives on. That vision can be seen in people like Allen Holmes, Charles Jones, Charles Guillory, Greg Jackson, Darrell Sampson, John Johnson, Larry Wilmer, Shelia Blackman-Dupas, Kenneth Pickett and so many others.”

REV. GARY FORD
Gary Ford Sr. is pastor of three churches in the parish -- Progressive Baptist in Marksville, New Light Baptist in Evergreen and Morning Glory Baptist in Lone Pine.
“Things are certainly better now than they were in the ‘50s, ‘60s and even in the ‘70s,” Ford said, “but we still have a good ways to go to have the harmony and love we should have as God’s people in the community of Avoyelles Parish and the surrounding areas.”
Ford said King “did a lot to make it better for the whole country. We should remember what he did and continue to live out his dream for all people.”

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