Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 13 January 2000 — Page 36

The Muncie Times, January 13, 2000, page 36

Armstrong Hopes for a drug and violence-free world

% Charles Gulubane Leadership is a subject Larry Collins addresses with a ease of a glider. Such an understanding does not come easy. The quality of Collins admires the most in Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was “His ability to assume a leadership position and at the same time reach back to college students and spawn a breed of young men and women who were prepared to rise up to the challenges of public office without looking back.” He observes with dismay the lack today of leaders who actively cultivate this culture of succession and momentum in African American politics. “The tendency nowadays is for people to get into office and immediately abandon the youth,” he said. Collins, 23, is a community outreach director for Congressman Dave Macintosh. His involvement with the Civil Rights Movement has accorded him an opportunity to work with members of the King family and other leaders. Working on Capitol

Hill gave him access to White House briefings and a chance to meet President Bill Clinton and Vice President A1 Gore. He also enjoyed meeting representatives of foreign missions including Ambassador Sisulu and other members of the South African Embassy. The experiences, as well as his desire to give back to the community, have ignited Collins’ own aim for public office. He plans to run for state or federal office within the next 10 years, as long as such office serves the interest of working class families. Collins has embraced Dr. King’s concern for the education of the youth. He attended Ball State before transferring to Alabama A & M, from where he graduated in December. His academic plans include going to graduate school, doing some tutoring and motivational work with the youth and becoming an ordained minister of religion. Collins urges young people to study different philosophical beliefs. This can help people to integrate different religions and

political, philosophies for the common good. He said youth should adopt nonviolence. “If it took just four girls in Birmingham, Ala., to make a statement to the nation, then 4 million youths around the United States of America can most definitely make a loud statement to the whole world.” Collins believes such an action would change the face of society for the better in the 21st century. Last March, Collins was part of the crowd that re-enacted the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march that led to passage of the Voting Rights Act. At the Dexter Avenue Church in Montgomery, Ala., Collins listened to speaker upon speaker who had marched with Dr. King on that day. “Being there and listening to these men speak made all the difference to me,” he said.Collins plans to celebrate Martin Luther King Day with other members of Phi Beta Sigma at Ball State University. As an advisor to the fraternity, he is positive the group will organize acommemoration.

Our youth,

keepers of the dream

8:00 p.m. concert in the Rediger Chapel Auditorium by the Taylor Jazz Quartet and Straight Ahead. Straight Ahead is a culturally diverse group of women who combine elements of jazz into a blend of traditional, transitional and contemporary jazz, as well as R&B ballads and Brazilian funk. In 1990, the group recorded their first album for Atlantic Jazz Records, Look Straight Ahead, which hit the Billboard Contemporary Jazz

Chart Top 20. All events are open to the public. The prayer breakfast, chapel service, and afternoon workshops are free. There is a $5.00 charge at the door for the Straight Ahead concert. Anyone wishing to attend the prayer breakfast is r.?ked L P.SVP to Karen Richards, 765-998-5109. For additional information, please call the office of Academic Affairs at Taylor University, 765-998-5204.

TALOR FROM PAGE 25 Rupp Communications Arts Center. At 2:20 p.m. and 3:45 p.m., concurrent seminars will be held. They include: 1. Family Involvement in Reconciliation Ministry - with Dr. Richard Allen Farmer ( Taylor University Dean of the Chapel), Rosemary Farmer (Taylor University Director of Ethnic Programs) Eileen Rollerson and Jennifer Soderquist

MCNEARY FROM PAGE 32 so, so much that needs to be done,” commented McNeary. “The only way we can achieve this is by leader, both black and white, setting out on a program and having it with their minds to make it better for the Muncie

2. Reconciliation in Grant Country - Rev. Ronnelle Armstrong 3. Martin Luther King, Jr.: His Life and Influence - led by Bobbie Owensby and a panel of African-American business and community leaders 4. A Time to Burn - movie and discussion hosted by Derrick Rollerson and Mark Soderquist Seminar locations will be announced during chapel. The day’s activities conclude with a

community and that would include people who have been voted into Muncie and Delaware County.” “Our country must prepare themselves to live in any multicultural society,” continued

McNeary. The president of the NAACP feels there is a particular quote from the I Have A Dream’ that has some meaning to him. “ One day, justice will roll down like water of a mighty

stream.’ That means once you have reached the mountain top, educationally and financially, you must go back to the valley and try to pull those along and help them,” said McNeary.