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In
The News
Jersey
Journal, 01/22/2008, Page: 5, Section: A, Edition: First
(reprinted with permission)
Tributes
'CHANGE THE WORLD'
calls to action at MLK Day memorial
By PAUL KOEPP, JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
The rafters shook in Jersey
City's Monumental Baptist Church yesterday morning as the
Rev. Kenneth L. Saunders
gave a thundering address on the legacy of
Martin Luther King Jr.
'We need to tell our children,
'You are somebody,'' said
Saunders,
now a Methodist pastor in Piscataway. 'We have still not
crossed over to the promised land.'
Saunders, a Jersey City native and commissioner on the state
Parole Board, was one of four people recognized at the
church's celebration of King's birthday, sponsored by the
Baptist Ministers Conference of
Hudson County. He urged the black congregation to
embrace 'the richness of our heritage' and continue King's
work.
The other honorees were state
Sen. Sandra B. Cunningham, Urban League of Hudson County
Executive Director Elnora Watson and Jersey City Police
Detective Charles Mainor.
'Martin
Luther King taught all of us what community service
really was, and that if you're committed to community
service, you can change the world,' Cunningham said. 'I have
made that commitment, and I intend to change the world.'
Watson paid tribute to the
church, where she is a longtime member, for supporting her
work with the Urban League to bring child care, senior
services and other aid to
Hudson County. 'This event brings me full circle,'
she said.
Mainor, active in community
youth programs, said King showed how to work for the future.
'You have to understand that we might not be around to see
the completion,' he said.
Also present was state
Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith, who was honored by the church
last year.
The Rev. Charles Curtis, vice president of the church, said
King's birthday should be a call to action on the black
community's problems, including cuts in bus service, the
threatened closing of Greenville Hospital and what he called
'token representation' on city boards.
'It's time for us to stand up
and be counted,' he said.
PAUL KOEPP can be reached at (201) 217-2400.
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