Dateline: January 26, 2006

Speakers recall personal experiences with MLK

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was remembered and praised by two people whose lives had been personally connected to his during a birthday celebration for the slain civil rights leader at Clarendon College last week.

The event was hosted by the Vera Dial Dickey Library under the leadership of Jewel Houston. Opening remarks were given by Rev. Tom Garmon of Clarendon’s First United Methodist Church, CC President Myles Shelton, and Amarillo North Branch Librarian Zetta Austin-Riles.

But it was the evening’s guest speakers – Mrs. Joy Faye Perry and Rev. V.P. Perry – who were directly touched by Dr. King.

Mrs. Perry grew up in Houston and knew King, his sister, and his parents when she was a student at Spellman College.

“We’re here to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,” she said. “Of course, when I knew him, he was just Martin King.”

The future leader spoke to Mrs. Perry and her classmates as a young ministerial student who served as spiritual advisor to the Y.W.C.A.

“He was always a calm spirited student and always said he wanted us to be the best women we could be and give back to our communities,” she said.

Mrs. Perry said, in her experience, King didn’t just gear his interests toward any one group of people, he was interested in everybody and liked everybody; and she reflected on his assassination.

“I was dreadfully sorry when he left the way he did, but sometimes you don’t have to live long to have a lasting impact.”

Following his wife at the podium, Rev. Perry said he met King at a conference in Dallas “when he was in full black preaching mode,” and he recalled King’s early influences as coming from home and church as good teachers.

“When you heard him speak, there was a sing-song to his words that spoke to the hearts of every man,” Rev. Perry said of King’s ability to touch people with his sermons and speeches. “Martin took his chance, and he turned this world upside down.”

King’s detractors often criticized his positions, and more than once he was labeled as a leftist for his views on the equality of all people. Rev. Perry disagreed with that view and said his convictions came from his religious upbringing.

“He wasn’t a communist; he was a Christian,” Rev. Perry said. “He infused the teachings of Jesus Christ with the teachings of Gandhi and set off a movement that will last a long, long time.”

Everything about King’s life – and even his death – reflected his commitment to non-violence and his beliefs that all people are created in the image of God, Rev. Perry said.

“If you’re going to be a fighter for civil rights or anybody’s rights, you’ve got to be willing to die,” he said. “That didn’t come from Gandhi. That came from Christ.”

The evening was closed by a beautiful a cappella rendition of the old spiritual “We Shall Overcome” by Mrs. Perry.