HUNDREDS RECALL VISION FOR EQUALITY

Audience Encouraged To Continue King's Fight

The Youth Celebration Mass Choir provided inspiring entertainment for
hundreds of people at Henrico High School during yesterday's ceremony
commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (CLEMENT BRITT)

Hundreds of people gathered at an emotional ceremony yesterday to honor and
remember slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

People crowded into Henrico High School's gymnasium, many in their Sunday
finest, to sing gospel tunes, pray and listen to speakers such as former
Richmond Schools superintendent Lois Harrison-Jones, who urged them to
continue King's fight for justice and equality.

"We're here not just to renew his memory . . . but to deal with Dr. King's
unfinished agenda," she said. "We need to fly against the winds of dissent
and complacency."

Virginia's first black female superintendent, Harrison-Jones is now a
professor at Howard University in Washington. A controversial figure during
her three-year Richmond tenure, she is widely considered to have been
forced out in the late-1980s by a group that included city and school
officials.

Henrico resident Kemba Smith, whose 241/2-year sentence for conspiring to
distribute crack cocaine was recently commuted by President Clinton, echoed
Harrison-Jones' words. Mentioning police brutality and other unfair and
at-times racist practices, she said, "We need for our community to be
active. We need to be involved. Freedom is not a gift, as Dr. King would say."

The celebration had the distinct air of a Sunday morning worship service.
In fact, all of the performers and many of the speakers represented area
Baptist churches. The strong voices of the Henrico MLK Adult Mass Choir and
a youth choir rang out, making people tap their feet and sway their bodies.
Some stood up and clapped in time to the music, and many nodded in
agreement when one person spoke of King as a "spiritual warrior."

The impact of King's struggle for civil rights on local residents was still
evident 33 years after his death. Because of King, Henry Johnson
participated in sit-ins and other nonviolent demonstrations in Richmond in
the 1960s.

"He preached the ideals of Jesus, and he lived that life," Johnson said.

He also remembers the day King died. Johnson was a teacher at Henrico's
Virginia Randolph Community High School in April 1968. When he heard the
announcement that King had been shot, "It was like someone had drove a
stake through your heart."

Ruth Thaniel, a retired Richmond Schools teacher, recalled listening to
King speak in 1960 at South Carolina State University, where she was a
freshman. Fearing for her and their safety, Thaniel's parents told her not
to participate in any civil rights protests. She agreed.

But after Thaniel heard King speak, she changed her mind. "He was so
motivating and inspiring that I could not just sit still and just listen,"
she said.

She marched in demonstrations and was arrested, along with many others, for
trying to integrate a local theater. Thaniel was jailed for five days as a
result. She recalled seeing the police dogs and fire hoses that were often
used against demonstrators. "I was so frightened. But I knew it was
something I just had to do."

The celebration ended with "We Shall Overcome," the hymn that became the
anthem for the civil rights movement.