Under the baobab: Centre County celebrates world cultures, legacies and more
“I was married to Martin but I was even more married to the Movement” — Coretta Scott King
Fifty-six years ago while Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King was organizing support for the sanitation workers in Memphis, he was assassinated. It changed the world. His wife, Coretta, had a longer and intense commitment to the human rights movement. She was responsible for developing the King Center in Atlanta, the Poor People’s Campaign and making MLK Day a national holiday. She was in the leadership of the anti-apartheid struggle, the anti-Vietnam War movement and the struggle for equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community. When she died in 2006 four presidents and a future president (Obama) attended her funeral.
Tamira Walker recently spoke to a packed house about Coretta’s leadership at an annual MLK Jr. Commemoration. The program “Keeping The Movement in Motion,” was organized and emceed by Carmin Wong, a member of the State College Borough’s Racial Equity Advisory Commission, and was led and spiritually uplifted by grad student poets, musicians and scholars: Kesla Elmore, Gabriel Pulido, Pheolyn Allen, Jaden Adkins, Sean Hambrick, and a keynote by Morgan Robinson.
Also in Centre County, the Restorative Justice Initiative and the Student Restorative Justice Initiative presented workshops during “Reentry Reimagined Summit,” a conference that addressed educational empowerment for justice-impacted communities. Community activist Irvin Moore was the keynote speaker.
And congrats to Lady Lion Makenna Marisa for being selected to play in the Women’s College All Star Game. She was also named to the Big Ten’s second team.
WPSU’s Multicultural Children’s Festival was held Saturday at the State College Area High School. Fifteen countries had tables, which delightfully served 1,200 people, mostly children.
The Islamic Society of Central PA (ISCP) invited community officials, leaders, Penn State students and faculty to the State College Municipal Building to share Iftar, a sacred communal meal that breaks the daily Ramadan fast. Mayor Ezra Nanes presented a mayoral proclamation celebrating Ramadan. Rami Alhellu, president of the ISCP, and others shared welcome and informative remarks.
This past week the McCourtney Institute for Democracy hosted David Hogg, activist and survivor of the Parkland school massacre. The March For Our Lives co-founder spoke before a couple hundred people at the HUB-Robeson Center. Hogg, a gun control activist, was named one of Time Magazine’s most influential people of 2018. A recent Harvard University graduate, his efforts include trying to inspire young people to run for office. He shared the experience of helping March for our Lives member Maxwell Frost become the youngest member of Congress.
Leaving a legacy
Our dear friend and colleague, Louis Gossett Jr., recently joined the ancestors. He was the first African American man to be awarded an Academy Award for Supporting Actor for his role in “An Officer and a Gentleman.” He was known for his work in the great American play, “Raisin in the Sun” and his portrayal of Chicken George in the iconic historic TV series “Roots.” Lou was great not only for what he did on the stage and screen, but for his philanthropic work off it.
I first got to know him in 1986. I was working with the Office of Black Catholics in the New York Archdiocese. We collaborated on a fundraising effort to rebuild Chicago’s Holy Angels Church, which had been totaled by a major fire. Father George Clement was the pastor and my personal mentor. He was the first Catholic priest to receive Papal approval to officially adopt children. Eschewing financial support from the diocese, he committed the parish and community to raise the money to build a new church. Lou had played the lead role in the film “The Father Clements Story.” Leveraging Lou’s notoriety and Clements’ “fame” we held benefit showings of the film. Lou made guest appearances. We raised the millions required to rebuild Holy Angels, “the Church of 21st Century.”
Goodbye and good night, my brother. I know that flights of angels, holy angels, will sing thee to thy rest.
Charles Dumas is a lifetime political activist, a professor emeritus from Penn State, and was the Democratic Party’s nominee for U.S. Congress in 2012. He lives with his partner and wife of 50 years in State College.
