Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 23 January 2004 — Page 4

Page 4 • The Muncie Times • January 23, 2004

Dr. Blaine A. Brownell continued from page 1. Brownell said he believed then that things were as they should be and that they ought to stay that way. While talking during an early morning program kicking off a week of activities in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,. Brownell told the more than 300 people in attendance that thanks to wise parents and a little common sense he came to realize that things had to change. The 1950s^ he said, was a time when powerful things were going on. It was an era when Dr. King confronted the challenges of breaking down racial and cultural barriers. "Dr. King was not a saint. He was a lot like us,"

Jeremiah Wright continued from page 1. Wright, senior pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, is a powerful and engaging speaker. He had his audience in his hands. "The message tonight is primarily delivered to believers. Not everybody who gathers in the house of the Lord is a believer. Some come because they are curious. Some are not here because they are worshippers. They just want to see. Some come to observe. Others are here to behold. "(But) tonight's ceremony on King Day is for believers. Some are here because they are curious. They are not convinced. Some want to study. Instead of participating, they are spectating." The speech was the end of the 16th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day activities in Muncie. The day started with a breakfast at Ball State University and included workshops for Muncie Community School

Brownell said of the late civil rights leader. "He was confronted with challenges and choices in his life. Events thrust these choices upon him. He had the courage and conviction to do what he thought was the right thing." President of Ball State since 2001, Brownell was credited during the breakfast program, held on campus for the first time, with making some groundbreaking changes at the university. He is the first university president to observe the federal holiday of Martin Luther King Day by canceling classes in honor of the late civil rights leader. He also is the first president to appoint the university's first female provost, a position held by students. Wright quoted liberally from the Bible, especially John Chapter 18, when Pontius Pilate asked Jesus Christ, "Art thou the king of the Jews?" and John 12. He also referred to Daniel 3, where Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego told King Nebuchanezzar that they would not bow down before him nor worship him or other images because they worshiped God who was powerful enough to rescue them even from Nebuchanezzar's fiery furnace. The men also said that even if they were not saved from the furnace, they would continue to believe in their God and would not succumb to Nebuchanezzar or serve the god of the oppressor. Wright said there was a communications failure between Jesus and Pilate because of semantic differences and because they served "two different gods." "The god of slavery is not the same as the God who freed the slaves. The god who sanctioned apartheid is

Dr. Beverley J. Pitts. Brownell described King's nonviolent strategies to challenge the status quo as "challenging." "Anyone who lived in Montgomery, Ala., in the 1950s knew that challenging the status quo was a difficult decision to make," Brownell said. Brownell, having worked in higher education for 35 years, said King was a Baptist preacher who was the son of a Baptist preacher. He said the support of many other Baptist preachers and other Christians helped make the civil rights movement possible. He noted that Dr. King's efforts were not only to liberate African Americans, "but to liberate not the same God as the one who ended apartheid. The god of sexism is not the same as the God who is against sexism or male chauvinism. The god of male chauvinism is not the God of Rosa Parks," Wright said, as his audience responded with applause and gave him a standing ovation. "The God of Martin Luther King is not the God of (Judge) Pickering, sorry Mr. President (the judge that Bush used his powers to make a recess appointment to a federal judgeship even though Senate Democrats had blocked action on the nomination). The God of (antislavery activist) Harriet Tubman is not the God of George W. Bush." Wright said in 1967 Dr. King had opposed the Vietnam War as illegal and unjust, after President Lyndon Johnson had authorized action against North Vietnam. "Can you hear now what he would have said after another president lied to get us into another war that has

all of us. "His work and his legacy belong to all of us," Brownell said. "It belongs to not only African Americans but to all races and religions." And that, he said, included Jewish people, Muslims and even atheists. And although much progress had been, Brownell said the work of Martin Luther King Jr. was not finished. "The work is not done," Brownell said. "There is more to do and we must do it." Prior to Brownell's speech to a crowd that included city and state officials, religious leaders and educators as well as numerous students, local students was recognized for left over 500 Americans dead and thousands of Iraqis dead?" he said. "Tonight's message is for believers. But everybody around Christ ain’t in Christ. Some are too cute to praise Christ. Others are curious, are critics or are cranky. How can you be around Christ and still be critical?" he said. Wright said there is a need for communication across gender, racial, ethnic and economic lines. He said too many people talk at each other, without communicating by talking to each other. Even between genders, he said, there are communication barriers. "Men are like waffles," he said, "while women are like spaghetti." He said men are capable of compartmentalizing thoughts and actions and isolating them in individual squares. In that case, he said, each thought, word or action has its own space. Women, on the other hand, he said, are like spaghetti. He said this

various achievements. Nineteen area students from Cowan, Daleville, Muncie, Selma and Yorktown schools were recognized for maintaining high grade point averages. Eight of those students from Muncie had maintained 4.0 grade point averages. Also presented awards during the event were first, second and third place winners in the Martin Luther King Jr. Essay contest sponsored by Muncie Community Schools and the Martin Luther King Jr. Dream Team. Individual awards were given to elementary, middle and high school students.

means you cannot pick up one spaghetti strand without disturbing the other spaghetti in the pot or on the plate. "Because of such differences, it's not unusual to talk past each other and no communication takes place. Jesus and Pilate were talking past each other. It was a futile conversation. There was no linguistic barrier between them, but there was a semantic difference," he said. "Jesus said, 'My kingdom is not of this world. He was a spiritual leader. Pilate was a political leader. These men were living in different worlds. That's why they could not communicate. "Jesus changed lives. Pilate changed uniforms. Jesus is the Son of God. Pilate owed his position to the powers that appointed him. Jesus was the Son of God. Pilate represented an occupying army. It was hard for them to communicate. Pilate was European. Jesus was non-European. These men lived in different continue on page 5.