Tifton, Tift County officially open MLK Holiday

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Eighth graders with the Eighth Street Middle chorus, directed by Dianne Coates, sing “America the Beautiful” during the 2013 City of Tifton and the Tift County Governmental Official Opening of MLK Holiday Friday morning at the Leroy Rogers Senior Center.
A group of citizens join hands at the end of the program, singing “We Shall Overcome.”

January 18, 2013

Tifton, Tift County officially open MLK Holiday

Latasha Everson CNHI The Tifton Gazette Fri Jan 18, 2013, 08:44 PM EST

TIFTON — A group of local citizens came out to the 2013 City of Tifton and the Tift County Governmental Official Opening of MLK Holiday Friday morning at the Leroy Rogers Senior Center. They heard speeches from some local dignitaries and enjoyed several beautiful song selections by the eighth graders with Eighth Street Middle School chorus, directed by Dianne Coates.

Ambrose B. King Jr., coordinator of the event, began the program with a moment of silence for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn. and many others who have lost their lives this past year.

After standing to say the Pledge of Allegiance, approximately 95 students with the ESMS chorus took the stage to sing “America the Beautiful.”

Tifton Mayor Jamie Cater, City Council members Julie Smith and Chris Parrott, Tift County Sheriff Gene Scarbrough, Tift County Tax Commissioner Chad Alexander and former City Councilman Roosevelt Russell attended the ceremony.

Cater told the eighth graders, “What a beautiful voice you have. You touched my heart. God bless you.”

He smiled and told the audience that he was a hippie back in the 1960s. He stated that he always liked what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood for and what he meant when he said that one day blacks and whites would be together.

“It’s very simple,” Cater said. “We can all get along.”

He added, “I raised my kids not to see color.”

He said he wished more people would have attended the program but he was glad to see the ones who did make it. He stated, “It’s great to be together.”

Cater, who’s the first mayor to walk in the annual parade on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, said he wants to see a rainbow of people participating in the parade this year.

He looked at the large crowd of eighth grade students and told them to “always mind your parents/guardians and teachers.”

Scarbrough commented that Friday’s program was a great celebration.

He said, “We have come a long way, but we still have a long way to go.”

He thanked King for the invite and the ESMS chorus for their wonderful singing. He stated that the Tift County Sheriff’s Office will be assisting in this year’s MLK celebration.

Scarbrough commented that among the things that he follows and teaches is doing right under the Lord.

“This is a right thing to be involved in,” he said.

He briefly talked about his life growing up with black people. He stated, “I honestly can say, I don’t see color.”

Janet Sack, pastor of Herring Memorial United Methodist Church, also spoke during the program. She stated that she too, like Cater, grew up in the 1960s. She said she was three years old in 1968. She stated that doesn’t remember much at that young age, but she does remember the riots in the City of Baltimore.

She stated that she and her siblings didn’t understand why blacks and whites used separate bathrooms, drank from different water fountains, etc.

“Our parents never raised us to be prejudice,” Sack said, noting that her parents raised them to be a child of God.

She stated that her father was the same age as Dr. King. She said she couldn’t imagine being a middle aged man at that time, but her father was a follower of God.

“I can’t imagine what it could have been like to stand up for injustice during the 1950s and 1960s,” Sack stated.

She added that she believes everyone needs to stand up for injustice today.

Also, local poet David Hemmingway read one of his poems titled “Black History.”

At the end of the program, everyone joined hands and sang “We Shall Overcome,” which is a protest song that became a key anthem of the African-American Civil Rights Movement.

King stated, “No matter what you go through, you shall overcome.”

Russell then gave a owerful benediction and prayer.

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