Singers' aim is breaking barriers

Youngstown’s Emancipation Choir will donate the offering from Sunday’s MLK service toward relief work in Haiti.By RICK ROUAN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Unity.

That’s the message organizers want to send with Sunday’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day service at the Elizabeth Missionary Baptist Church, 1210 Himrod Ave., people involved with its production say.

From the planned readings of different holy books to the choir that brings together singers from several area churches, the event is a way to break down religious barriers to further equal rights, said the Rev. Lewis Macklin, pastor of Holy Trinity Missionary Baptist Church.

Martin Luther King Jr. “believed in unity. He believed in respecting others,” said Cynthia Wright-Palmer, an associate minister and the church’s praise and worship leader. “That’s what we want to do on Sunday.”

Wright-Palmer is a member of the Emancipation Choir, whose members typically come together Jan. 1 to celebrate Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.

But the choir is coming together a second time this year to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.

“It’s an opportunity to gather choir members all over the city,” Wright-Palmer said of the 25-person choir.

The choir is symbolic, she said, of the need to unite and of power in numbers.

“Before we can go global, we have to unite locally,” she said.

Another member of the choir called it “a celebration of freedom.”

“We’re knocking down color and denominational barriers,” said Henry E. Heath, a Youngstown State University junior studying social work.

Achieving that unity isn’t easy, though, when trying to coordinate 25 different schedules, said Luke Shumpert, choir director.

Once the members get together in one place, however, it’s typically smooth sailing, he said.

The service, which begins at 3:30 p.m., will feature a keynote speaker, readings from the Torah, Quran and Bible and a call to respond to the disaster in Haiti, Macklin said.

All donations made for the service’s offering will go toward relief work in Haiti, said Mr. Macklin, who led a planning committee for the service with Rabbi Joel Berman.

People from all walks are invited, Mr. Macklin said, calling the service the “faithful integration of people of like spirit.”

He said the service is an important day of reflection not just on how far people have come toward equal rights, but also how much more needs to be accomplished.

For example, inequality still exists in health care and quality of education, Mr. Macklin said.

“The person who forgets history is doomed to repeat it again,” he said.

But Mr. Macklin said he wants the groups that come together on Sunday to go beyond a single day to remember King’s message of unity.

“It spills beyond the weekend. It should be principles embodied 24-7,” he said. “By myself, I may be efficient, but I’m not effective.”

“Together we can be efficient and effective.”

rrouan@vindy.com