Community encouraged to be ‘bridge builders’ during annual MLK banquet

Published 12:37 pm Tuesday, January 22, 2019

DALTON, Ga. — A few minutes before taking rocks from his pocket and dropping them on a table, Pastor Richard Smith, pastor of the Virtuous Church in Dalton, spoke of the woman caught committing adultery in the Bible (John 8:3-11) and the men who wanted to stone her.

“Just in case there are some bold people in here that feel there is a difference (between us), come grab one of those rocks and be the first to cast it,” he said during the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Banquet Saturday night at the Mack Gaston Community Center.

Smith was one of four panelists at the banquet. He was joined by Matt Evans, pastor of Rock Bridge Community Church and a member of the Dalton Board of Education; Minnie Marsh, of Willis Funeral Home; and Shemeka Robinson, a MLK Celebration committee member.

The theme was “Building bridges over challenges for I am my brothers’ and sisters’ keeper.” 

Smith said after hearing the theme he was reminded of something he once heard at a conference.

“When you knock a wall down and lay it sideways it becomes a bridge,” he said. “Tonight I want to talk about knocking walls down. Every one of us has a wall up.”

He told the audience to think about things that make them “uneasy.” The things they don’t want to go the extra mile to do because it may cause “more of a sacrifice.”

“Those things build walls, but if you knock those walls down you can help someone else along the way,” he said.

 Marsh invited the audience to “walk down memory lane” as she talked about growing up in the segregated South. Marsh said she often have flashbacks of her childhood during the time King was alive. King, the late civil rights leader, was assassinated on April 4, 1968.

“The children on my street were white and we played well together, but we couldn’t go to school together,” she said.

Marsh attended Emery Street School, the only school for African-Americans in Dalton, until 11th grade. She later graduated from Berry College in Rome and taught in Dalton Public Schools system for 11 years. 

“There I stood teaching in a school I couldn’t attend as a child,” she said. “I thought, here I am walking in Dr. King’s dream.”  

She recalled seeing “white” and “colored” water fountains in downtown Dalton. Marsh said those experiences didn’t make her bitter.

“They made me better, stronger and strive to be all the things God intended for me to be,” she said.

Marsh said her dream is for everyone to live united regardless of gender or race.

“Fifty-five years ago Dr. King was trying to tell us how to make America great again,” she said referencing the “I Have A Dream” speech in 1963.

Marsh said until every person is respected and treated fairly and “all of us can join hands to help those in need, America cannot be great.”  

Robinson spoke about her work at Providence Ministries, a homeless shelter in Dalton, and helping women with addiction. 

“Addiction has always been an issue,” she said. “It’s an epidemic. It doesn’t have age, gender or social class.”  

Robinson said her goal is to make sure each woman sent to Providence doesn’t leave the way she came in. 

She said so far, that’s exactly what’s happened.

“That’s not my glory, that’s God. I’m just a vessel,” she said.

Robinson encouraged the audience to “build a bridge with people we come in contact with.”

She said instead of telling your children to avoid “misfit” kids, invite them over and ask what’s wrong. She encouraged people to help the homeless and be their their brothers’ and sisters’ keepers.

Evans said to serve as our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers people have to take to heart the words of King when he wrote his letters from the Birmingham jail in 1963.

Evans said no other words have affected his life and understating of his role and mission beside God’s word and King’s letter.

“Rock Bridge Community Church does not want to be one of small commitments,” he said.

Evans shared commitments his church has in hopes of seeking the welfare of the city and displaying the sacrificial spirit of early Christians. 

Prefacing the “bad grammar” he said, “We pledge not to do nothing.”

“That’s a real danger for people of God, in fact probably the greatest sins of the church are sins of omission rather than commission,” he said. 

Evans said education is a “huge bridge-builder in our society” especially for children who need to have doors unlocked to give them opportunities needed to reach their God-given potential.

Evans told the audience two ways to build bridges is to speak up for public education and become a mentor.

“They (students) need to know adults care for them,” he said. 

The MLK celebration committee honored former member Joan McGovern and her late husband Al with a commemorative bench.

Awards were given to the following:

• The Martin L. King Jr. Achievement Award: Community members Keith and Kalitha Johnson.

• The Bishop C.H. Ellison Award: Whitfield County Sheriff Scott Chitwood.

• The Mayor’s Community Service Award: Frank Pinson, host of the television program “One on One With Frank Pinson.”