By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
Tompkinsville preacher Mike Turner challenged people to have the difficult conversations about race relations and stereotypes, and to continue the dream Martin Luther King, Jr. espoused in 1963.
After gathering at the Bunche Center, Glasgow and Barren County community members attended the annual Martin Luther King Jr. service at the First Baptist Church on Roseville Road.
“What we do is make an effort to commemorate and celebrate the contributions of Dr. King during the Civil Rights Movement,” First Baptist Church pastor Michael Rice said before the service began. “I think this commemoration of his life, of his legacy, is extremely important given our turbulent times.
“This nation is divided…so I think this is a critical time in the history of this country and I think that now we really need to recall the significance of the Civil Rights movement,” he added.
Turner was a diversity coordinator, and he served as the guest speaker during the 2-hour commemorative service. Turner encouraged those in attendance to carry on the dream of King, noting that he did not finish the dream but set the groundwork for others to follow.
“The dream is not dead, it’s still alive, and there’s a need today for us to continue down the pathway [of] challenging the inequalities that we see continuing to happen in our lives,” Turner said. “I believe today that it is very important that we carry on a dialogue — that we not just have an event like today without some solutions to moving forward. I find that we come together on occasions like today and find ourselves reminiscing about what Dr. King did…, but I believe he set the foundation for you and I to continue, to contribute to what he started.”
Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church attendee David Greer also performed an interpretation of King penning his “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”
Several local elected officials spoke at the outset, including State Rep. Steve Riley, Barren County Judge-Executive Jamie Bewley Byrd and Glasgow Mayor Henry Royse. Turner urged people to use their voice to better humanity, instead of further dividing it.
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