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Resist violence, speaker tells 300 at Youngstown MLK Day event
YOUNGSTOWN
Minister DeVante Hudson, main speaker for Sunday’s commemoration of the life and values of civil-rights leader the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., urged the black community to carry the weight of injustices and prejudice without rioting and violence.
He said the next generation of leaders is watching how current leaders handle adversity and injustice.
“Don’t use resistance against injustice to destroy, but to uplift. If you don’t carry the weight, your children will have to,” Mr. Hudson said at the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Planning Committee Commemorative Celebration at Greater Friendship Baptist Church on the city’s South Side.
The theme of the commemoration was “Remembering What is Civil and Doing What is Right.”
Mr. Hudson, student ministries intern at New Mercies Christian Church, Lilburn, Ga., has strong roots in the Youngstown area.
He is a 2011 graduate of Liberty High School, and at 17 was licensed as a minister at the nondenominational Christ Center Church in Youngstown under the leadership of Bishop Kenneth W. Paramore and Pastor Leta Paramore.
He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Morehouse College in Atlanta, King’s alma mater, and attends the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta.
Bringing the congregation to its feet cheering and applauding several times during his address, Mr. Hudson noted that “sometimes it is good to be reminded of our roots.”
“It is not because of your bank account, your degree or the Civil Rights Act that we stand here. It is only by the grace of God,” he said.
“At a time when public opinion outweighs truth, when divisiveness and hatred are at an all-time high and understanding is at an all-time low, the church – God – is at the center of it all,” Mr. Hudson said.
“The same God that carried us through slavery and Jim Crow will carry us through this. I don’t care who the president is or what CNN says because God is with us,” Mr. Hudson said.
“There is a powerful challenge before us,” said the Rev. Dr. Lewis W. Macklin II, pastor of Holy Trinity Missionary Baptist Church and president of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance.
There were a number of speakers at Saturday’s service, including young people who read sacred writings from the Jewish, Muslim and Christian faiths.
“The purpose of having them speak to us is to demonstrate how much alike we all are,” said the Rev. Dr. Robin Woodberry, assistant pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church, director of the Mahoning Valley Association of Churches and worship leader of Sunday’s event.
“Including youth is intentional so they can make a difference, the Rev. Ms. Woodberry said.
A number of elected officials, including U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, participated in the Martin Luther King Jr. commemoration.
“Thank you for commemorating Martin Luther King Jr.’s life. With President Obama going out, it’s more important than ever. I’m worried about the future of the country,” Brown said.
“With President Obama, there was never a scandal, never even a whiff of a scandal,” the senator said.
Last week, Congress took the first step to eliminate health care for 900,000 people in Ohio and 22 million people nationwide, Brown said.
“We must not give up. We need to rebuild the trust between black communities and police from the ground up and affirm that black lives matter and that voting rights matter. We are losing too many potential teachers, doctors and engineers,” Brown said.