Out & About
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The parade of caftans, saris, and evening gowns indicated the international nature of the Congress of Racial Equality’s celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. The event at the New York Hilton Monday welcomed members of New York’s diplomatic community, as well as Americans from across the country.
Thoughts of King came readily. “He is a great personality in Europe,” the deputy general consul of Switzerland, Daniel Haener, said. “In Switzerland, he is very famous.”
Hungarian-American philanthropist Eugene Lang was so inspired by King that he created the I Have A Dream Foundation, which adopts classes of children in impoverished cities and supports them through college and beyond. “The impact of our program is far greater than most people realize,” Mr. Lang said. “Literally there are millions of young American students whose lives have benefited in some way, not only by participation, but through the legislation at state and federal levels that we’ve fought for.” He added, “It’s always an honor to be at a birthday party.”
An anchor and senior correspondent at WPIX, Marvin Scott, said: “I had the privilege to meet King in Mississippi when I covered a march after James Meredith was shot. I asked him, ‘Why are you doing this?’ He answered, ‘For the children.’ “
Many guests posed for photographs in front of a striking portrait of King by artist Rebecca Eichler, who donated prints of the work for auction.
During King’s life, the congress mobilized in support of the civil rights movement, organizing Freedom Riders who tested a Supreme Court decision that found segregated seating of interstate passengers unconstitutional. More recently, CORE’s national chairman Roy Innis, and his son, national spokesman Niger Innis, have lobbied for agricultural development in African countries. The domestic focus continues through local chapters.
In Crown Heights last fall, for example, Rabbi Shea Hecht and his sons worked with the congress to distribute 200 turkeys to families in need. This and other projects are a continuation of the work begun by Roy Innis and Rabbi Hecht’s father, Rabbi Joseph Hecht. “They had a long friendship,” Rabbi Hecht, the chairman of the National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education, said.
The congress honored King and four living honorees at the event: a defender of women’s rights in Islamic societies, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who is a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a former member of the Dutch parliament; the general president of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Darryl Matthews; the founder and senior pastor of Crenshaw Christian Center, Frederick Price, and the musician known as “the Mighty Sparrow, King of the Calypso world,” Slinger Fransisco.
