Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 20, 1992 TAG: 9201200079
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MELANIE S. HATTER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
THE DREAM LIES IN UNITY, BLACKS TOLD
White America is frightened of a dead man's words, said the Rev. Ronald Watson of the Radford Church of God in Christ, referring to the late Martin Luther King Jr.King called for a nation where all races could work, sit and eat together as one, "and what's wrong with that?" Watson asked the crowd of about 150 people who packed Asbury United Methodist Church on Stuart Street.
Watson was one of three speakers at the Sunday afternoon event sponsored by the Montgomery County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
The celebration to honor the slain civil rights leader was moved to Asbury from Shaeffer Memorial Baptist Church because of furnace problems there.
Watson, a member of the Diversity Team - a multicultural awareness group - at Virginia Tech, told the crowd that when he asked at a recent group meeting why white men felt threatened by blacks, the response was that whites don't want to "give up a piece of the pie."
"But we're only getting crumbs," he said.
Although the three speakers represented different factions of the community, Republican Party Chairman George Bell, Democratic Party Chairwoman Lindsey West and Watson all agreed that King's dream has not been achieved.
Economically, politically and socially, blacks have made few gains, Watson said. Blacks will spend millions of dollars on fancy sneakers and designer jeans but "won't save for our children to go to school," he said.
All three echoed the theme that King's dream can be made to come true by united action instead of waiting for the government to create change.
"We can become economically independent by investing in ourselves through education and by recognizing what is really important in life," Bell said.
Society could wait forever for the government to take action toward economic and social justice, he said.
West added that people must take responsibility for themselves and one another. Individuals can help their neighbors and friends by working through churches and private, non-profit organizations. Montgomery County is overwhelmed with people seeking help and there are 35 million poor people in America, she said.
"We are the richest nation and yet we still allow these conditions to exist," West said. Taxes are considered a penalty; they are not, she said, they are a means of getting services the country needs.
West encouraged the crowd to talk to the candidates this election year and get involved before November.
Blacks traditionally have voted Democratic, but Watson noted that the percentage of blacks voting Republican is up. Blacks can't be taken for granted anymore; they will vote "for people who fulfill our needs," Watson said.
"Let's get involved in politics, y'all," he said.
King once said that those who control the vote can control the country, Watson said.
"Here's a man whose words are so powerful they still live in our hearts today . . . it's not what politicians do, but it's what we can do."