Lynn youth stage lively celebration of MLK Day

LYNN – Hundreds of Lynn youth melded seamlessly with community elders at the 23rd annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration Monday, bringing a wave of energy and optimism bolstered by the use of YouTube videoclips, music and a large-screen monitor.Click here to see a photo gallery from Monday’s Martin Luther King Breakfast.Click Here to see the EssaysUnlike previous years, the 2009 celebration of the civil rights leader had no keynote speaker. Instead, the three winners of a local essay contest read their winning words from three separate stages spread throughout the North Shore Community College gymnasium.The essayists were April Fana, a seventh-grader representing the Part of the Solution program at Girls Inc.; Guilver Gomez, an 11th grader from La Vida Scholars; and Chastity Mathurin, a 10th grader from the community colleges’ Upward Bound program.Minority community leader Ralph Tyler welcomed the hundreds of attendees and reserved a moment of silence for the late Abner Darby, a Lynn civil rights advocate. “He’s sitting next to Dr. Martin Luther King and there are tears of joy and a smile so big,” said Tyler. “He never thought this day would come.”U.S. Rep. John F. Tierney and state Rep. Steven Walsh addressed the crowd, emphasizing King’s contributions and segueing into the hope for President-elect Barack Obama, whose inauguration is Tuesday. Darrell Murkison, local representative of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) delivered a poignant message, reciting important names and dates in African-American history – Jim Crow, Brown vs. the Board of Education, the Little Rock 9, the Birmingham riots, Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael, Gil Scott-Heron, Robert Kennedy, Rodney King and the LA police, the Black Panthers. After each pause, Murkison repeated, “If you don’t know these names, you better go ask someone.”Virginia Barton, a Lynn educator and longtime activist for minority rights, spoke from experience, recalling the days when downtown retailers allowed blacks to work only in the back room, stocking shelves and performing menial chores, and not as sales staff meeting the public. Darby was at the forefront of the movement to change those practices in Lynn, along with racially integrating the city’s churches, Barton said.”It’s important that young people hear the stories of how we got here today,” said Gloria Lopez, who introduced the morning’s program.Tierney noted the changing times in politics, explaining that the number of black politicians who won election in predominately white districts increased from 16 to 30 percent between 2001 and 2008. Calling attention to King’s words, the congressman said people must not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.Performances by the ITM Step Group and the MLK Day Choir from the Zion Baptist Church highlighted the event, which came to close as the audience held hands and sang “We Shall Overcome.”In addition to Lopez, the MLK Planning Committee included Audrey Jimenez, Brandi Walker, Peter Toeung, Matisha Chao, Sylvia Walker, Beth Wright and Val Buchanan. Gordon College provided design and technical assistance.