King Holiday Memorials Begin

Holiday observances for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. began Sunday at a predominantly white church that hosted ecumenical services in hopes of broadening the legacy of the civil rights leader 20 years after he was assassinated.

For 11 years, weeklong services commemorating King have begun at an interfaith service at a black church in downtown Atlanta, on the week of King’s Jan. 15 birth date.

Underlining the ecumenical nature of the ceremony at Central Presbyterian Church this year, white and black clergy and a rabbi delivered a “litany of commemoration” for the King legacy.

The Rev. P. C. Enniss, pastor of the church, said: “I think the intent in years ahead is to have the service one year in a predominantly white church and another in a predominantly black church--at least until the day comes when we don’t have to make those distinctions.”

King, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, was killed by a sniper in Memphis, Tenn., on April 4, 1968. He had gone to Memphis to join a protest by striking sanitation workers. King would have been 59 this week.

The celebration, culminating with the King holiday Jan. 18, will also include awards, speeches, a parade and a “teach-in” by Education Secretary William J. Bennett.

The theme for the week’s activities is “Ending the Violence of Poverty, Hunger, Apartheid and War Through Creative Nonviolent Action.”

Friday through next Sunday, a national conference of college students will gather in Atlanta, arriving on a “Student Freedom Train” from Albany, N.Y. The students will hear from Bernice King, King’s youngest daughter; talk show host Oprah Winfrey, and Rep. Joseph Kennedy (D-Mass.).