Church Celebrates King Day (Philadelphia Tribune)January 20, 2011
Stephanie Guerilus
Tribune Staff Writer
Salem Baptist Church of Jenkintown honored the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. with a luncheon at the Blair Mill Inn.
Malessia Dennis, chairperson of the event, came up with the idea as a prelude to the day of service.
“It was our first Martin Luther King luncheon and I’m sure we’re going to do a repeat,” Dennis said.
“We only started the idea in October. It was my idea and I presented it to the deaconess board and we only had two months to plan it and that’s why we are in awe over how successful it was.”
Smith, a Philadelphia attorney, is also the grandson of the late Rev. Robert Johnson Smith, who was Salem’s pastor emeritus. The elder Smith was also a longtime friend and colleague of King’s. During his life, King visited Salem twice. The younger Smith tapped into his spirit to deliver an address centered on, “What Would Dr. King Say Today?”
Smith shared the feeling of returning to Salem.
“It was a beautiful event. It was great to be back with the Salem family. Even though I’m not a member of Salem, I’ve always felt extremely close to the membership and the congregation because my family has a long history with the church,” Smith said.
“It was a wonderful moment for me. It was an honor. I was happy to do it.”
Smith spoke on why he believed the message of King resonated until this day.
“I talked about the legacy of Dr. King and how every protest, every march and even every death paved the way for President Barack Obama, but two years after that triumphant night in November, Dr. King would still have, I believe that Dr. King would still recognize that work still needs to be done,” Smith said.
“We haven’t reached the mountain top or the promised land yet; that we need to encourage our president to be a freedom fighter.”
He continued as to why King was continually drawn upon by those who sought to make a difference.
“Dr. King spoke truth to power and anytime you speak truth to power, it touches people and there’s so few people that’s able to speak truth to power in the way that Dr. King did. One of the things he said is that change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability but comes from continuous struggle,” he said.
“So, despite the fact that Dr. King and Malcolm X and Medgar Evars and all those leaders in the Civil Rights Movement came in the 1950’sand the 1960’s, change truly will truly not come unless we have that continuous struggle and that’s what we’re still struggling [with] today.”
Smith expressed that the current generation of African Americans may have been emboldened by the presidency of Obama to once again carry the torch.
“I think that our legacy is in part blessed to have benefited from the legacy of Dr. King and other patriots like him so that we don’t have to fight the battles that he fought but at the same time, the curse that comes with that is that we don’t know what it means to wake up not knowing can I walk through this neighborhood and be safe when I get home? Can I go into a place of employment and have a fair shot at a job if I have the same education or better as my white counterparts?” Smith said.
He continued.
“We don’t have the same daily reminders of Dr. King and his generation had, of the bigotry, racism and the segregation and without those daily reminders, it’s harder to form the mindset required to truly fight for freedom and to fight for change,” Smith said.
“I think that’s one of the beautiful things about Barack Obama’s presidency and his candidacy was that he seemed to tap back into that and truly motivated a younger generation to change their government, to change their politics and the way they do politics in this country.”
