Martin Luther King Jr.'s Life Celebrated In Heartfelt Ceremony in Cutchogue

Music and joyful celebration marked the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. on Sunday at a ceremony hosted by the Southold Town Anti-Bias Task Force in Cutchogue.

The annual service, held this year at the North Fork United Methodist Church on Main Road in Cutchogue, brought together residents from across the North Fork to remember a man who changed the world with his eternal message of peace and love.

Val Shelby, co-chairperson of the town’s anti-bias task force, led the event, which began with a welcome from Tom MacLeod, pastor of the North Fork United Methodist Church, and an invocation by Father Constantine Makrinos of Transfiguration Church of Christ Greek Orthodox Church.

Those in attendance sang, along with the group Jus B’Cuz, a heartfelt rendition of the Negro National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

Next, Southold Town Councilman Bob Ghosio read a statement by Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell, who was unable to attend the event due to a prior obligation.

“Southold’s Anti-Bias Task Force should be commended for the hard work it always does,” Russell wrote. “The group continually shows a deep and unwavering commitment to making Southold a community that embraces all people. We can all take pride in the progress we made but, we cannot rest because we still have a long journey ahead of us.”

He added, “The recent events in our history challenge us. Messages of hate and intolerance, distrust in those who are supposed to protect us and those who feel over-looked or forgotten in the nation’s prosperity can raise doubts and make us question if the struggle has been worth it. But, if we are to truly to honor Dr. King’s legacy, then we must press on. He never lost hope and neither should we. Times may test us but we shouldn’t let them break us. I am confident that we can continue to work together as a community to make sure that Southold Town is a beacon of light that other communities can follow and that we will continue to be a community that celebrates our differences and makes us know that we all belong.”

Ghosio said he feels lucky to have grown up in the time he has; a time when Martin Luther King Jr.’s message has resonated. “We learned to respect other people. We are all people, we all have sickness, we all have health, we all have struggles, regardless of our economic status. I grew up in a church world, in a family where we were taught that we should be respectful of other people and show love for others.”

Greenport Village Mayor George Hubbard was also unable to attend; Shelby said he was bringing his daughter back to college.

He sent his thoughts, which were read by Sonia Spar of Southold Town’s Anti-Bias Task Force: He discussed not only Dr. King’s most famous “I Have A Dream” speech, but also, a speech given in February, 1954 in Detroit, “Rediscovering Lost Values.”

In that speech, Dr. King said, “The great problem facing modern man is that, that the means by which we live have outdistanced the spiritual ends for which we live. So we find ourselves caught in a messed-up world. The problem is with man himself and man’s soul. We haven’t learned how to be just and honest and kind and true and loving. And that is the basis of our problem. The real problem is that through our scientific genius we’ve made of the world a neighborhood, but through our moral and spiritual genius we’ve failed to make of it a brotherhood.”

And so, Hubbard urged, “Let’s just be honest and kind, true and loving. Let us be all those things to ourselves, to our neighbors, and even to strangers.”

The presentation also featured poetry written by sixth grade students in the Southold Elementary School, voiced beautifully by Susan Dingle, who read works by Hanna DeSimone, Nicole Gomez, Julia Jaklevic, Annamaria Napolitano, Justin Uguna and Jackson Volosik. The poetry followed an introduction by Christopher North.

“He used his words, not his fists. . .He gave his life for all of us, so we carry on his legacy. On this special day we celebrate what he sacrificed for us,” Hanna wrote.

Martin Luther King Jr., Annamaria wrote, was “the one who will never be forgotten. The one who made it right. The one who never stopped believing. The one who fought and fought.”

After hearing the poetry, an emotional Shelby added, “Please, let us encourage our children. Let us not be dream killers.”

Those who attended raised their voices in song, clapping along with the musical selections.

Keynote speaker Reverend Dr. Tracie Saunders, Assistant Pastor at the First Presbyterian Church of Southold, addressed the welcoming crowd with an uplifting message.

“Dr. King was a prophet. He got his message from God,” she said. “He was a messenger of God. That’s the message for all of us — to go higher.”

Dr. King, she said, “was brutally assassinated. And right now. I believe he’s in heaven with Jesus, singing to God.”

Dr. King and Jesus, she said, had much in common, sharing a message of “love, forgiveness, peace and unity,” she said, adding that people should be united in faith, not divided by the labels of denominations.

“We have to surrender to God’s agenda,” she said. “We have to trust God and say, ‘Thy will be done.’”

Life, she said, has highs and lows, “But the goal is always to go higher.”

The goal is not making as much money as possible, not seeking only physical pleasure or pornography, not taking drugs to alter minds, ”not to stop immigrants, not to scapegoat minorities for all our problems,” Saunders said. “The message is to love.”

The focus should be less on technologoy and smart phones and more on prayer, she said. “God talks all the time. We’re just not listening. We’re just not being quiet enough to hear what God wants to say. And some of us don’t want to hear it.”

Instead, Saunders said, “We have to praise God more. Sing more. Paint, or write. Take care of our family. Be a faithful worker to your boss. Feed the poor. Help a widow. Baby-sit for a working mother. Get involved with politics. Vote. Get on the Board of Education. Volunteer to read to children. Be the best person God called you to be.”

She added, “If we are afraid, bring it to God in prayer. God does not want us to be afraid. Be more quick to believe love. On this day when we celebrate Dr. King and his wonderful life and legacy, and his big sacrifice, let us remember that the bottom line is love.”

Other faith leaders spoke, including Rabbi Gadi Capela of the Congregation Tifereth Israel of Greenport, Rev. Marvin Dozier of Unity Baptist Church in Mattituck, and retired Unitarian minister Ben Burns of Greenport.

Lucius Ware, Long Island NAACP president, also spoke and informed those in attendance about the many Martin Luther King Jr. celebrations taking place across the East End today.

A tribute was given to Frank LePre, a longtime Southold anti-bias task force member, and a collection was taken in his name, to help fund activities in local schools to create tolerance and diversity and combat bias and racism.

Phillip Beltz, special projects director for Southold Town, who recently left his post to move to Boston, had, in the past, organized a day of service in Southold Town, Shelby said.

To that end, a free dinner will be offered at the Clinton Memorial AME Zion Church in Greenport today from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

“This is supposed to be a day of service, not a day off,” she said. “All are welcome. We want to honor Dr. King’s legacy of doing things for people.” She added, “It’s not about religion, it’s about your own personal relationship with God. There is only one God. And we are all His people.”