How to go
What: MLK Worship Service
Where: Zion Baptist Church, 1864 Earlham Drive, Dayton
When: 6:30 p.m. Sunday
More info: (937) 425-8400 or http://mlkdayton.org
On March 21, 1965, Martin Luther King Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference led 25,000 people on a march from Selma, Ala., to the state capital of Montgomery. This historic 54-mile march raised awareness for a Voting Rights Act for black voters in the South.
Pastor Hence C. Coats, who has led the congregation at Pleasant Green Missionary Baptist Church in Dayton for the past 25 years, was part of that history.
“I was privileged to serve in Alabama at the Selma March. I had the opportunity to meet Dr. King twice,” Coats said. “I felt honored to meet him because he was our leader, and warned us about what we had to go through, and might be arrested. But I wasn’t afraid to be arrested if it came to that.”
The second time he met King was when the civil rights leader spoke at Hudson High School in Selma that same year. At that time King was boycotting the schools. Coats graduated from Green County Training School in Alabama in 1965. Because of the boycott, he couldn’t receive his diploma right away, and the school mailed it to him.
Coats will bring that experience and knowledge with him when he addresses the congregation at Zion Baptist Church on Sunday for an MLK Worship Service.
“Our discussion will have to do with freedom, looking back to where we came from, and where we are today,” Coats said. “One of the biggest problems in America is lack of togetherness. We as a nation need more unity between all races.”
The worship service is sponsored by MLK Dayton Inc. It is just one of the many scheduled events honoring the civil rights leader this year. This year’s theme will focus on the question, “Is America Humanly and Civilly Bankrupt?”
“When I moved to Ohio in 1965, there wasn’t as much prejudice seen here as down in the South, but you could still feel it,” said Coats, who got a job working at McCall’s where black and white workers were separated at lunchtime. “The northern whites didn’t speak the ‘N’ word, but you still got the impression that they felt blacks weren’t equal with the whites.”
He discussed the ways that diverse groups of various backgrounds and perspectives could foster a better understanding and empathy for other people.
“What we’re going to have to do is sit down with white and black clergymen, and find ways to share messages with different congregations. A predominantly white congregation will hear from a black preacher, and so on,” Coats said. “My faith in God is very strong. Men don’t have the power to change people’s hearts, but God has the power.”
Other MLK Dayton Inc. events coming up: 29th annual Margaret E. Peters School Program Awards Ceremony at Thurgood Marshall High School on Jan. 17; MLK Musical Celebration at Bethesda Temple Church on Jan. 19; MLK March and Rally in downtown Dayton on Jan. 20; Violence Prevention MLK Teen Celebration at Neon Movies on Jan, 20; and the MLK Celebration Banquet at the Dayton Convention Center on Jan. 20.
“We are deeply grateful to our very dedicated and diverse board members and staff, along with our great sponsors, for helping to build a lasting memorial to honor Dr. King and his principles here in our city,” said Anthony B. Whitmore, MLK Dayton president.
It is the vision of MLK Dayton Inc. to inspire citizens and act on behalf of social justice, influenced by the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. The organization’s mission is to advance and promote the dream, life, and legacy of King.
In past years, several charitable organizations have received donations from MLK Dayton: Central State University/Upward Bound program; Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton; House of Bread; East Dayton Food Pantry; Southminster Presbyterian Church; Corinthian Baptist Church and Project Cure.
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