Dayhoff Art: Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.Carroll County NAACP Breakfast by Joe Getty

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

by Getty for Senate on Monday, January 17, 2011 at 2:35pm

Congratulations to the Carroll County Chapter of the NAACP for their excellent tribute to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., this past Saturday morning. I attended the eighth annual breakfast organized by Jean Lewis, President of Branch No. 7014, and other members of the local chapter.

An uplifting message was delivered by Ambassador Blango Ross, pastor of the Strawbridge United Methodist Church, New Windsor. While quoting scripture, Dr. King and text messages from his children, Pastor Ross offered an extraordinary commentary about the relevance of Dr. King's teachings in our modern world of technology.

As he referred to quotations from Dr. King's early speeches ("Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction"), Pastor Ross repeatedly returned to the role of love, family and a Christian lifestyle to counter the corrupting forces in modern society.

Another highlight of the morning was a presentation by Carroll County students Jordan Costley, Janae Henson, Troy Henson, Jasmine Rock and Tyrice Rock who read "Letters to Dr. King" from a book published to show how today's students feel about the legacy of Dr. King.

The entire program was admirably coordinated by master of ceremonies Doug Metz. A presentation of artwork for the NAACP headquarters was made by former Westminster Mayor Kevin Dayhoff and Caroline Babylon.

I encourage you to view the video of this event when it becomes available from the Carroll County Community Media Center (http://www.carrollmediacenter.org/)

While much of state government is closed today in honor of Dr. King, the Maryland General Assembly will convene at 8:00 p.m. this evening. I plan to attend the annual wreath-laying ceremony in front of the State House and then attend the traditional MLK speech in the Senate Chamber which this year will be given by my Baltimore County colleague, Senator Delores G. Kelley.

Additional information about the Carroll County Chapter of the NAACP is available on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Carroll-County-NAACP/108954305789921).