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Hundreds at Youngstown MLK Day ceremony urged to work for peace from home
The Vindicator (Youngstown)
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Bishop Durant K. Harvin III preached to a full congregation at a community service at Tabernacle Baptist Church on Arlington Avenue on the North Side on Sunday. It was a commemoration of the life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Harvin, of Baltimore, was once pastor of a Youngstown church.
The Vindicator (Youngstown)
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Featured presenter Bishop Durant K. Harvin III, preaches to a packed church about the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Dr. Luther King during the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Celebration at the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Youngstown.
Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration
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The Vindicator (Youngstown)
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Pastor Sylvia Jennings of Oak Missionary Baptist Church becomes emotional during a service held Sunday at Tabernacle Baptist Church to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The service featured a talk by Bishop Durant K. Harvin III of Baltimore.
By Ed Runyan
YOUNGSTOWN
Bishop Durant K. Harvin III of Baltimore made the trip to Youngstown to speak Sunday at a Martin Luther King Jr. celebration to ask people here to “raise the gate called praise.”
Bishop Harvin, who was once pastor at Richard Brown Memorial United Methodist Church on Elm Street in Youngstown, said praise to God “is the posture of gratitude for the opportunities before us.”
That posture is important to help promote achievement and peace in our community, he said, because violence, such as that which killed six people and injured 13 others outside of a Tucson shopping center last week, is more about our accountability than answers from the government.
Bishop Harvin, who holds bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees, is pastor of Assemblies of the Emmanuel Christian Community Church in Baltimore.
“Violence is an expression that a place where I have previously been in pain has been permanently irritated,” the Rev. Harvin said during a presentation at Tabernacle Baptist Church on the North Side.
The responsibilities for progress and peace in our communities does not lie with officials in Washington, Columbus or Youngstown, he said.
“But it is at your dinner table and mine,” he said. “We must announce to a generation that this is the time to take responsibility to rebuild our community and bring our people to a place of peace.”
The Rev. Harvin referred several times to the shooting rampage in Tucson, which involved a mentally ill man who killed a federal judge and severely wounded U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords.
“I don’t care about gun control,” Harvin said.
“Guns don’t kill people. People kill people. “Guns lie in a box until they get into our hands.”
Harvin said we can all take small steps to prevent violence and frustration, like valuing each other, starting with our neighbors.
“Look out for the people who live next door to you. Be concerned about their well being. Know their children by name and when they come and go so if they get home late, their parents will be aware.”
Another small step is to take the trash can back to the house promptly.
In Philadelphia, a man shot his neighbor because three days had passed since trash day, and the can was still by the road.
“A tender issue was touched,” Harvin said. “It was not about the trash can. It was an issue about a man a man feeling disrespected in his neighborhood, and his plea was ignored, and the only way he could express that was to go in the house and get a gun.
“I tell you we can change our community if we just take responsibility in small and personal things,” he said.
In Baltimore, stories have emerged about people taking out murder contracts on people who talked to police.
“I dare you to become a community of squealers. Tell it and keep on telling it. If it is not told, it will not be addressed,” he said.
Bishop Harvin will participate at a Martin Luther King Jr. community workshop at 8:30 a.m. today at First Presbyterian Church, 201 Wick Ave.