First Baptist Church of Vienna Celebrates Martin Luther King Jr.

For many, the lasting image of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is of the leader during the later words of his famous 1963 speech "I Have A Dream."

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character," he said from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

But what about the Dr. King at the beginning of that speech?

The King who said "America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked 'insufficient funds"? Who details how African Americans "were still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination"?

Too often, said Christopher Wilson, the director of the Program in African American Culture at the National Museum of American History, people remember the difference King's work inspired but not the work he and others completed to get there

"We want to remember things neat and clean. Our memories are simple," he said. "We owe a great deal to the people who decided they didn't want to go through life saying 'I should have.' Remembering those people doesn't take away from the memory of Dr. King. We want to remember Martin Luther King as a Drum Leader but [by only remembering what came after him] we're selling the rest of the band short."

Wilson was among more than a dozen other speakers at the First Baptist Church of Vienna's annual celebration of King, a list that included state, county and Vienna officials, along with the Fairfax County Branch of the NAACP.

Speakers remembered their own experiences during the civil rights movement, and moments today that reflect both how far the country has come and the work that's left to do.

U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-11 District) called King an "inconvenient leader," one who broke from others of his faith and culture to challenge what he thought wasn't right. He forced people out of their comfort zones while alienating himself from some communities; while not easy, it was effective, Connolly said.

Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Sharon Bulova recalled her childhood in Baltimore, where in the 1950s, she and her young sister hadn't fully grasped the magnitude of what was happening around them. While taking their younger siblings on a walk, they ran across an African American boy named Walter, who extended his hand and invited them back to his house to play.

The four Bulova siblings sat in Walter's mother's kitchen eating cookies, and "for that day ... it was okay," Bulova said. "I still wonder, what happened to Walter?"

Herndon Mayor Stephen J. DeBenedittis said he's reminded of how far the country has come when he sees his 9- and 8-year-old children playing with friends: so long as they have similar interests, or like the same Wii games, they're one in the same -- "they see far more similarities than they do differences," he said.

The event also featured several performances from the Northern Virginia Baptist Association Worship Arts Choir, a dancer and three trumpet players from George Mason University.

NAACP officials honored Kera Bridges and Dominique Evans, local students now studying at Virginia State University and Limestone College, with scholarships.

They urged members and other guests to continue the legacy of King's work through their organization, which they said found a way to help people even when there was no money.

More than donations, officials said, time is the best gift people can give to others.

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