Friday, January 19, 2001
Friday, January 19, 2001 |
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Sharing memories of MLK
Andrew Young speaks to local elementary studentsBY PAT NEWMAN
"You have never known a world where people were judged by the color of their skin," Andrew Young told second and third grade students at Spring Hill Elementary in Fayetteville Wednesday morning. "We are all children of God and citizens of these United States. We all have the same opportunity to live together as brothers and sisters." Young, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and mayor of Atlanta, was introduced to the children by his granddaughter, Spring Hill second grader Lena Alston. She is the daughter of Lisa and Douglas Alston of Fayetteville. During the first half-hour of his visit, Young talked to fourth and fifth graders about the meaning of being an ambassador. He painted a very personal profile of his relationship with the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for the younger students. As a boy, Young said he often got into fights with his younger brother. "We used to wash dishes together," Young recalled. "He'd find a speck on the dish and put it back in the greasy water and I'd have to do it all over. I hit him. Then my father would take off his belt and spank me. "Martin Luther King tried to teach us that when we have disagreements, it's not good to fight," he continued. "We have to learn to solve our problems without getting angry. "I was told, don't get mad, get smart. When someone tried to make you mad, don't let them... be smart, be cool." He related his experience to worldwide conflicts "when people disagree and immediately start fighting... one hits one then the other one hits back." Young asked the children if they knew the Bible verse referring to "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." "Martin Luther King said if we really did that all the time, we would end up with a world where everyone was blind and toothless." Young said he was 25 years old and a minister in Georgia when he met King, who was then a minister in Alabama. "We were friends. I worked for him as his assistant the last eight years before he died," said Young. "Almost everywhere we went, a crowd of people showed up; he was very popular." Young was with King the day he was shot in Memphis at the age of 39. "It was a time when people were divided... people didn't understand what he wanted to do. "When he was shot, not many knew who he was...he was more powerful in death than in life," Young said of King. "When one dies, it's not the end. They go on living their lives through others." Young explained that King's life and spirit live on through the work being carried on by his family and friends. "He was a nice guy," Young concluded. Andrew Young was a leader in the civil rights movement, a member of Congress and Ambassador to the United Nations. He served in President Jimmy Carter's Cabinet and is an expert on Africa.
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