Speech: Put dream into action

Community action makes a beloved community
possible, the speaker said.

By LINDA M. LINONIS

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Kirk Noden encouraged those attending a program celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to follow the concepts of a beloved community and discussed how the civil rights leader embraced the ideas.

Noden, a community organizer for ACTION — Alliance for Congregational Transformation Influencing Our Neighborhoods — and the Raymond J. Wean Foundation, was the keynote speaker Friday night at a community gathering held at Congregation Rodef Sholom, 1119 Elm St.

Co-host was the North Side Interfaith Partnership. The event, attended by about 120 people, focused on the theme “Bringing the Dream Home: Taking Action.”

Noden said the basic concepts of the beloved community are:

UIt’s integrated. “Everyone is welcome.”

UIt’s socialist. “Everyone shares in the diversity of human personalities.”

UIt’s inclusive. “Everyone is in on the decision-making process.”

U“It’s rooted in the parenthood of God.”

UChrist-centered. “Christ is the guide.”

Noden said the beloved community concepts, which Dr. King espoused in many speeches, parallel ideas of the civil rights leader.

“Community organizing — it’s all about relationships,” said Noden, noting that King promoted one-on-one relationships and building and renewing relationships within the community.

Noden also pointed out that King knew that no change came about without power. “Nothing will change without organization and money.”

Noden said it usually doesn’t take a Ph.D. to come in and tell people what’s needed. “Just ask Mrs. Jones on the corner,” he said, emphasizing the fact that neighborhood residents are “in the know ... they just need a voice.”

“Never do for people what they can do for themselves,” Noden said. “That undermines their dignity.”

“Good organization is broad-based,” he added. “Learn about how to get involved,” he encouraged those at the event.

Noden also said King was a “radical forward thinker” and his theology was influenced by the black Christian tradition in which he was reared. For example, Noden pointed out King protested the Vietnam War before that concept became widespread.

Noden said the Wean Foundation is starting a new initiative — a neighborhood grant program. “These will be small grants to help people start a community garden, for example,” he said.

He said the initiative is to benefit those who “work, worship and live here.”

Before Noden’s talk, the participants gathered for an interfaith service. Service readers were Rabbi Franklin Muller and Chris Legow, both of Congregation Rodef Sholom; Alberta Lisbon, Tabernacle Baptist Church; the Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray, First Unitarian Church; the Rev. Joseph Rudjak of Sts. Peter & Paul Church; and Pastor Greg Calko of Richard Brown Memorial United Methodist Church.

Donn Rosenblum, president of Rodef Sholom, posed the thought — “what it would have been like if King had lived longer.” And he noted everyone can learn something from King’s writings.

The shabbat interspersed thoughts that King shared when he was confined in the Birmingham jail in 1963 and commentary on King as an advocate of nonviolence. A prayer for peace was preceded by commentary noting how King believed a better America was possible through positive peace that transforms and incorporates, that eradicates injustice and is intolerant of intolerance.

After the service, speaker and a pot-luck dinner, event participants mingled and shared information with one another.

Deb Flora, executive director of Lien Forward Ohio, which finds productive uses for abandoned and tax-delinquent land, said, “This community event allows for an exchange of ideas.

“We believe a rebirth is under way,” she said, and such community involvement programs support that.

Pat Rosenthal, director of Common Wealth Inc., which facilitates affordable housing, said it was important to her organization to celebrate the life of Dr. King. As part of the community event, she said, “We can solve problems by working together. We believe by doing this people can improve their quality of life.”

Tierney Woodruff of Youngstown Northside Weed and Seed said, “It’s important to talk with other groups,” noting the Weed and Seed is focused on “weeding out crime” and “seeding the community with safety.” She noted it was vital that community groups shared what they were doing with one another.