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Daytona Beach Florida King Day Gala A Christian Event
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Blanche Africa Reilly Dark continues her report on the King Birthday celebration last week in Daytona Beach, Florida.
We gathered outside the church behind Father Phil and a sanitation truck as we prepared to march to the foot of the Sea Breeze Bridge. The pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes carried one of the sails from the pulpit to guide the group. The sanitation truck was symbolic of the last crusade Dr. King led for the sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee. We marched to the foot of the bridge to remember those who participated in the march to Selma. Many workers were injured and some lost their lives on the day known as “Bloody Sunday”. There were several people in the march who had been with Dr. King at Selma, and Montgomery; they shared their stories of what it was like to be a young person of teenage years making and witnessing history in demonstrating for equal rights for black people in the United States.
Just as during the marches more than forty years ago the participants sang songs, we too, sang as we marched along and when we reached our destination the foot of the Sea Breeze bridge.
After being at the bridge for about half an hour we returned to the church for the special worship service.
Gathered along side the pulpit were members of the general Christian community. I was surprised, as were my friends who invited me to this service, that only Christian dignitaries were acknowledge in attendance in the area reserved for local political and religious officials. (The Volusia County Council representative Josh Wagner was present as was the Daytona Beach mayor Glenn Ritchey to issue proclamations of the day for the late Dr. King.) My friends enthusiastically said they’d seen a flier that promoted this service as interfaith.
Or perhaps my friends were mistaken? We were surprised to see no representatives from the Jewish community, the Greek Orthodox Church or the Islamic Mosques.
Though the service was long, as noted by the self deprecating humor of the main speaker, Rev. Dr. L. Ronald Durham, of the Greater Friendship Church, as he observed the number of worshipers had dwindled to what seemed like only a few Catholics in number and many more Baptists, he declared us all “honorary Baptists” for our tenacity, endurance and stamina.
It was a very moving event. I am glad to have been fortunate to share the experience with so many people of the Daytona Beach community. It was a landmark event held in Daytona Beach because of Martin Luther King, and because Daytona was one of the fortified locations of an unequal way of life for many Americans. The civil rights movement broke the chains of that bondage and freed everyone to live a better life.
Following the service we wondered why the service was other than advertised with only Christians present. So my friend later sent an email to Father Egitto asking why this was. He graciously responded saying:
” Our Lady of Lourdes Community offered to host the MLK event because quite a number of area leaders would be in Washington on Jan. 19th. When we offered to do this, time to organize the event was of the essence. Therefore, we felt the best way to get the word out was by publishing and distributing fliers, newspaper articles, radio interviews – we attempted to cover as much media as possible in a short amount of time. I modeled the services on the previous three in Daytona Beach. It was not an interfaith service — it was ecumenical — I apologize for this confusion.”
The service was “ecumenical” rather than “interfaith” ?
I admit I thought the terms were interchangeable. Both used to define being inclusive. However, Phil Egitto did not disappoint when he invited my friend to participate in the planning of next year’s celebration. It is an offer she willingly accepted.
It was thrilling to participate in the Martin Luther King 80th Birthday celebration in Daytona Beach, Florida the day before the extraordinary installation of the very first black African American President Of The United States.
It was exciting to celebrate the day knowing it is the beginning of a new chapter in U.S. history.
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