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BY LINDA WORTHINGTON
UMCONNECTION STAFF

The bowl-shaped amphitheater on the campus of Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold slowly filled as hundreds of people found seats on a sunny afternoon Aug. 28.

They came to remember and honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and to unveil a statue in his honor, the first permanent memorial to the civil rights leader in the state of Maryland.

'We?re blessed to have so many churches and others here,' said Master of Ceremonies Carl O. Snowden, who was instrumental in the year-long campaign to raise the funds to create the $400,000 privately-financed memorial.

Snowden asked that the delegation from the Baltimore-Washington Conference of The United Methodist Church, headed by Sandy Ferguson, stand in recognition of the support that at least 10 churches, the conference and individuals had given toward the memorial.

The community college is considering a request from the Baltimore-Washington Conference to have the first Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Institute on Non-Violent Studies in the state. The curriculum would give students an opportunity to learn more about the philosophy, teachings and religion of Rev. King, Ferguson said.

The Rev. Mamie A. Williams led the invocation. '(The memorial) is not only history, but it?s an indicator in the sense of pride and spirit the Annapolis community has,' she told The Capital newspaper.

Among the speakers who paid tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. at the hour-long service, held on the eve of the 43rd anniversary of his 'I Have a Dream' speech, were many of Maryland?s top politicians.

The memorial was created by sculptor Ed Dwight, who also sculpted the Malcolm X memorial in San Diego and the internationally acclaimed Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Memorial on the City Dock in Annapolis. 'He has captured both the meaning of Dr. King and the spirit of the civil rights movement,' Snowden said.

Before his artistic career, which began 23 years ago, Dwight was America?s first African-American astronaut trainee. He was also a U.S. Air Force test pilot, an engineer, and a real estate and construction entrepreneur.

Dwight grew up in a white high school in Kansas City. 'I lived in a white universe,' he said. 'I thought discrimination ? if there was any ? was because I was short.' As he attended college and later, he learned otherwise, especially as he realized that black children never saw images of blacks in museums and parks. Once he became a sculptor, he sought to change that and has made 92 images of African Americans.

'King taught white people not to fear us,' he said, 'and us not to fear moving forward. ? Education is the most incredible antidote to fear.'

With the words of a simple prayer, 'We do nothing without honoring God,' the officials unveiled the nine-foot, six-inch figure, standing on a five-foot granite pedestal. King, gesturing with his left hand and holding a book in his right hand, is standing in front of a semicircular stone wall where five bronze plaques bear quotations from his landmark speeches.

MAKE THE CONNECTION:
The Baltimore-Washington Conference will continue to advocate for the memorial and the proposed course at the community college. The memorial still needs $150,000 to cover its costs. To make a contribution as a church or individual to preserve the legacy of Dr. King, make checks payable to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Fund, and send to P.O. Box 371, Annapolis, MD 21404.

SIDEBAR:
Excerpt from 'I Have a Dream' by Martin Luther King Jr., August 28, 1963. On the Mall, Washington, D.C.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream!