MATTESON — The memory of civil rights leader Martin Luther King was honored Monday with reverence and song and dance performances at Lincoln Mall.
It was the sixth annual King Day commemoration, sponsored by Matteson's Housing and Human Relations Commission.
The reverent thoughts came from Rev. Bruce Pangborn, a Lutheran minister from Matteson, whose comments echoed this year's national theme for King Day observances of "A day on--not a day off."
"A day off is not the best way to keep this day alive," he said.
Pangborn, 54, recalled his awakening as an Iowa college student to racial unfairness--including his father's advice in 1961 not to "ruin his future" by too much association with African Americans. Invoking various writings of King, Pangborn urged the listeners to work toward "the day when someone different is a blessing."
The entertainment was provided by the Happiness Club, a multicultural group of three dozen Chicago-area youths ages 5 to 17. The club members, who have performed for President Clinton and the Chicago Bulls, sang and danced through their hip-hop musical "Kids Make Values Cool."
More than 100 people had ventured out in the freezing weather to fill the folding chairs arranged for the early-morning observance in the shopping mall's center court.
But by the time the hourlong event ended with an abridged rendition of King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech by club member Donovan Mitchem, 8, of Chicago, that number had doubled.
As the program progressed, mall walkers, early shoppers and store employees clustered and then ringed the upper level railings overlooking the stage and audience area.
"This is what usually happens," said a pleased Robin Kelly, the village's community relations director.