CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Everyone should have a story to tell about how the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has impacted his or her own their life for the better, Dr. Walter Few III told those attending a community breakfast here Saturday.
The Cleveland State Community College event was the first of several events during the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend here. The program culminates tonight in a Dream Keepers ceremony at Lee University.
“There is a diversity of people here in this room, different cultural backgrounds, different generations,” Dr. Few said. “I think that’s really what Dr. King was talking about all along. His legacy began in a black struggle for civil rights but basically his message was that of a human struggle.”
The dream, Dr. Few said, is for everyone to come together to make the world better.
KING DAY EVENTS* Today and Tuesday, Lee University faculty members will teach special topics classes focusing on Dr. King’s contributions and legacy from an academic perspective. The public is invited to attend.* At 6 p.m. in the Conn Center, the annual Dream Keepers ceremony will include special music from the Evangelistic Singers and a screening of “A War for Your Soul.” Filmmaker Reggie Bullock will give the keynote speech and present Dream Keeper awards to area youth.
Dr. Few is a 1989 Brainerd High School graduate with degrees from Morehouse College and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is a Chattanooga intervention cardiologist and a founder of the Cardiovascular Care Center.
Dr. King was part of the class of 1948 at Morehouse College in Atlanta and there is a statue of him on campus, Dr. Few said.
“If you think about skipping class, you come out and you see that statue; you go to class. That’s just what you do,” Dr. Few recalled.
He paid tribute also to family and others who had a positive impact on his own life, including famed pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Benjamin Carson, who also has Chattanooga family ties.
Dr. Carl Hite, Cleveland State Community College president, told the gathering that education makes Dr. King’s dream become a reality.
“If that dream becomes a reality it requires a partnership. And with the turnout we have this morning, it’s obvious a lot of people want that dream to become a reality,” Dr. Hite said.