Parades, Rites and Pealing of Liberty Bell : Nation to Observe Birthday of Dr. King

America marks its second annual national observance today of the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with parades, marches, ecumenical church services, gospel programs and the pealing of the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia.

“Let Freedom Ring,” the dramatic refrain in the martyred civil rights leader’s immortal “I Have a Dream” speech at the 1963 March on Washington demonstration, is this year’s holiday theme.

In Atlanta, King’s birthplace and focal point of the nationwide holiday activities, Secretary of State George P. Shultz was to join King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, and other dignitaries for an interfaith service at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King once served as co-pastor.

Schuller to Preach

The Rev. Robert H. Schuller, noted television minister and pastor of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Calif., who was invited by Mrs. King and the board of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Non-violent Social Change to deliver the sermon at the 10 a.m. service. The service follows a wreath-laying ceremony at King’s nearby white-marble crypt.

This year’s national observance promises to be less extravagant than the first, which featured, among others, Vice President George Bush at the Atlanta wreath-laying and pop superstar Stevie Wonder as host of a televised three-city musical gala.

Holiday planners say interest and enthusiasm remain high but money to put on events is hard to acquire.

As in the past, controversy continues to overshadow the holiday--the first new national holiday since Congress designated Thanksgiving in 1941.

In Atlanta, civil rights leaders were meeting on the eve of the nationwide festivities to consider another march in a virtually all-white northern Georgia county where a “Brotherhood March” in King’s memory Saturday was disrupted by rock-throwing Ku Klux Klan members and their supporters.

‘Silence Is Not Golden’

The Rev. Joseph Lowery, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which King founded, vowed that blacks would return for a “massive demonstration,” adding that “silence in the face of tyranny is not golden.”

The two-mile march, which originated in the Forsyth County town of Cumming, broke off about half way along the route after rocks, bottles, cans and mud balls were thrown at the marchers. The Rev. Hosea Williams, an Atlanta city councilman and former King aide, led the march.

In Arizona, Gov. Evan Mecham drew the ire of King admirers when he canceled the state’s King holiday last week. Acting on a campaign promise, the new conservative Republican governor rescinded last year’s executive order by former Gov. Bruce Babbitt creating the holiday.

Mecham, citing a state attorney general’s opinion, said the governor’s power to issue executive orders did not extend to creating a holiday, even though the holiday applied to executive branch employees.

‘Sad Day for Our Country’

“The rescinding of the King holiday is a sad day for our country and Arizona,” a group called Arizonans for a Martin Luther King Jr. State Holiday said in a statement.

In Mississippi, on the other hand, King’s memory gained ground this year as seven cities enacted a municipal holiday in honor of the slain civil rights leader.

The Jackson Clarion-Ledger, the state’s largest newspaper, has called on the Mississippi Legislature to declare a state holiday as well.

“King stood for fairness and human dignity, and helped this country realize its true ideals of freedom,” the newspaper said in a Jan. 8 editorial.

Arizona and Mississippi are among 12 states without a state holiday dedicated to King. The others are Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, South Carolina, North Dakota, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming.

Holiday for Heroes

Virginia has a holiday on Jan. 15 for Southern heroes during which King is honored along with Confederate Gens. Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.

The federal holiday--which applies only to federal workers and the District of Columbia, the seat of the national government--was signed into law by President Reagan in 1983 after a bitter and protracted legislative struggle.

Congressional opponents questioned whether King should be given a honor denied Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln--a separate day in his honor.

The federal holiday is celebrated by law on the third Monday in January. King actually was born on Jan. 15 and would have been 58 this year had he lived.

He died from a sniper’s bullet on April 4, 1968, as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn. King had gone to the city to lead a demonstration of striking garbage workers.

Peace Prize for Aquino

King holiday activities in Atlanta include the awarding of the Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize to Philippine President Corazon Aquino. A representative was to accept the award on Aquino’s behalf.

In Los Angeles, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference chapter will award the Martin Luther King Jr. International Award to the Rev. Allan Boesak, a black South African clergyman jailed frequently for his opposition to apartheid. Boesak will give the keynote address at the annual King dinner tonight at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel.

The Atlanta celebration culminates in a march downtown along Peachtree Street with floats and marching bands headed by a symbolic mule-drawn wagon.

In Philadelphia, the Liberty Bell will be rung at 12:30 p.m. to mark the holiday. At the same hour, copies of the historic iron bell also will be pealed in communities elsewhere around the nation.