“My hope is that people will begin to recognize our need to
serve each other in the community and hopefully that will extend
into our world,” Rev. Lee Turner of the Community Baptist Church
told a crowd of about 500 during ceremonies held on the Martin
Luther King Jr. holiday.
The large gathering showed up throughout the day at the Santa
Rosa church for food, entertainment and to share community
resources and connections
It was billed as “A Day On, not a Day Off,” in honor of the
slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. With schools,
banks and most government offices closed, the program attracted
many school-age children and community leaders.
The City of Santa Rosa Police Department, Kaiser Permanente, The
Center for Well-Being, CASA, The Sonoma County Homemakers
Association, and the Registrar of Voters all offered free services
and information.
The church became a theater and on the “Big Screen” was a
documentary about the Civil Rights Movement which included some of
Dr. King’s most influential speeches.
The church is also responsible for pioneering an annual oratory
contest, that invites students throughout Sonoma County to speak
out.
The contest was started more than 20 years ago by Rev. James
Coffee, of the Community Baptist Church. The project now has a
committee that meets year round to plan for the event.
Barbara Holleran and Ken Duncan spread the word to area schools
and also work with the committee to come up with a theme for the
contest.
This year’s winners, Suzy Li and Claire Williams, both of Maria
Carrillo High School, spoke about “calling our community to a
higher destiny – a more noble expression of humanness.”
“Our goal is to involve as many children as possible, we still
have a lot of work to do with civil rights and the whole community
needs to be involved. When I watch the kids speak, sometimes I see
a future lawyer or teacher. It’s just one step in their growth to
adulthood,” said Holleran.
Community Baptist Church members Teri Johnson, Latonya Small,
Lori Parker and Jeanieal Dural continue working to improve the
youth program at their church, which has a large African-American
membership.
“There’s still a lot of stereotypes out there that the kids are
confronted with in school. It really pays to be on top of it and
involved in education,” said Dural who has been a member of the
church for 40-plus years.
