Reliving a ‘Special Gift’

There were parades, of course, and essay contests and award dinners and even a career fair to honor the life of martyred civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

But, more than anything, the annual holiday observed Monday was a day for oratory, a day to use the power of words to honor the man whose eloquence and personal courage propelled him to the forefront of the civil rights movement.

“God gave him a very special gift ... to be able to move people,” said Father Chuck Andrus at a prayer breakfast at Verbum Dei High School in Watts.

“He’s the measuring stick” for inspirational speeches, the unattainable standard worth striving toward, Andrus said before joining other speakers on the podium at the breakfast sponsored by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese’s Office of African-American Ministry and Evangelization Center.

It stands to reason that speechmaking would be a big element of any King Day celebration, given that King was known as one of the most gifted orators of his day, said Peter Marston, a professor of communication studies at Cal State Northridge.

The civil rights movement, he said, is grounded in “that great gospel homiletic tradition”--homiletics meaning the art of preaching. So the speeches so central to King celebrations are “not an emulation of the man but a continuation of the tradition,” Marston said.

Those drawing on King for inspiration in their speeches included Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard C. Parks, clergy and young people.

And like King, speaker after speaker Monday called for action.

Parks, the main speaker at the Verbum Dei prayer breakfast, which drew about 1,000 people, cited King’s example in calling on the community to help the homeless, to steer youths away from gangs and to ease the way for ex-convicts returning to society.

“What we need,” Parks said, “is a renewal of our individual commitment to solve our problems.”

In Santa Monica, Father Michael D. Gutierrez reminded the nearly 400 people who filled the First United Methodist Church that “Dr. King lived his whole life being a person of action.” Although Gutierrez was only 2 when King was assassinated in 1968, the priest said he considers the late Baptist minister a “patron saint” whose example guides his calling as an activist for troubled youths and a crusader in the “living wage” movement.

In his brief but impassioned talk at the communitywide commemoration, Gutierrez invoked his favorite King speech--not “I Have a Dream,” the most quoted--but King’s last talk, given in Memphis on April 3, 1968, the day before he was killed.

“I’ve been to the mountaintop,” King declared as he closed that speech in support of striking sanitation workers. “And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land.” Prophetically, he went on: “I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the promised land.”

Gutierrez spoke of the importance of joining forces to build a better community. Inclusiveness, he said, is key.

“There can be 50 thoughts,” he said, “and they all must be in the conversation.”

Just before delivering an emotional speech at the Second Baptist Church in Santa Ana, the Rev. Gary Watkins said that speaking about King is different from any other sort of address.

“There is a feeling of intimidation, comparing yourself to him,” Watkins said, adding that he draws speech-writing inspiration by rereading King’s books.

In Ventura County, Perry J. Ludy, keynote speaker at ceremonies at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center, used passages from six King speeches to highlight the continuing relevance of the civil rights leader’s messages.

“My theory,” said the former longtime Oxnard resident and motivational speaker, “is that physically Dr. King was there in the 1950s and 1960s but that mentally, he was also here in the year 2002 and beyond.”

He said King often called for firm moral foundations and the need for a nonviolent fight for justice with dignity.

Such messages, Ludy said, are imperative today as the nation grapples with terrorism, war, racism, infidelity and misguided youth.

“He is a symbol of America’s struggle for integration,” Ludy said, and “he’s here today.”

Barbara Myler, a director of the Santa Clarita Interfaith Council and organizer of its ninth annual King celebration, said there is no pressure to top King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, simply because no one can.

“I wouldn’t even want to try,” Myler said. “It is historically inspiring.”

And the Rev. Ron Culmer, a priest at St. Martin in the Fields Episcopal Church in Winnetka, said there is no better way to celebrate King Day than to savor the famed orator’s speeches. He planned to do just that in writing his sermon for the San Fernando Valley Interfaith Council’s ecumenical celebration Monday night at Mary Immaculate Catholic Church in Pacoima.

“Do you have a vision of God’s peace?” Culmer asked the congregation. The printed audience response passage came from King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered at the 1963 civil rights march on Washington. Together, the audience members paraphrased King’s words, reading:

“We have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted and every hill and mountain shall be made straight. The glory of God will be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. We have a dream today.”

It doesn’t matter how many times a person has heard the speech, Culmer said.

“We need to be reminded of it at least every year.... It’s moments of remembrance that help guide us toward his vision.”

Times staff writers Jennifer Mena, Kristina Sauerwein and Holly J. Wolcott contributed to this report.