c. 1998 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ Organizers of a three-day event marking the 30th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. hope their”Pilgrimage to Memphis”will inspire people to work toward what they believe are the unrealized goals of King’s dream of equality for all.

Chief among those goals, organizers said, are economic equality and making nonviolence a more prominent part of peoples’ lives.

The events, scheduled for April 3-5 in the Tennessee city where King was killed, will include a commemoration of his last speech and a vigil at the site of his assassination, now the National Civil Rights Museum.

Aurelia Kyles, executive director of the Commemorative Commission Connecting Community, said the event will include many highlights, but she hopes the symbolism of the vigil at the museum will lead to future action.”It allows time for people to reflect and, I think, spiritually connect to the site of the assassination in such a way we hope that it will drive them to recommit to the ideals that Dr. King embraced,”she said.

The sole goal of Kyles’ commission is to prepare and present the three-day event of religious services, forums and commemorations.

But she and some of the commission’s convenors _ clergy representing 11 religious and civil rights organizations _ say they hope the youth who are among the thousands expected to attend the event will help continue King’s legacy.”We first want to re-energize and reinspire the people about the legacy that he left us and get this generation, this new crowd, more familiar with what really took place and what its significance was,”said Bishop H.H. Brookins, who oversees the 13th Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, which includes Memphis and Nashville.

Other convenors include the Rev. Don Argue, president of the National Association of Evangelicals; the Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, general secretary of the National Council of Churches; the Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker of Canaan Baptist Church of Christ in New York; the Rev. Jesse Jackson, president of Rainbow/PUSH Coalition; and the Rev. Benjamin Hooks, former executive director of the NAACP.

The interracial makeup of the convenors, as well as the expected attendees, is being applauded by those organizing the event.”White and black people (are) now seeing we have a common destiny and a common problem,”said Brookins.”There is still evil in the world and there is still wrong. … Everybody must be about the business about refocusing and re-engaging themselves in the riddance of bigotry and hatred.” Bishop Chandler David Owens, presiding bishop of the Church of God in Christ and another co-convenor, said he views the event as a way of continuing King’s legacy.”I see it resurrecting those things that King stood for,”he said.”What we need … is a constant reminder that the battle is not won yet, that progress has been made, but the battle has not been won yet.” Kyles said two aspects of King’s dream _ nonviolence and economic equality _ still must be realized.”Those are by far two that we can’t get our arms around, we can’t seriously make a dent in,”she said.

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But she is hopeful that young people _ some of whom are coming in groups from Illinois and Texas _ will be educated about the historical events that occurred in Memphis 30 years ago and will be encouraged to take action of their own.

One of the event’s highlights will be an evening service April 3 at Mason Temple, where 30 years earlier King gave his famous”I’ve Been to the Mountaintop”speech. A recording of the speech will be played and the Rev. Gardner C. Taylor, pastor emeritus of Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn, N.Y., will be the keynote speaker. Taylor spoke at the first memorial service at Mason Temple after King was killed.

On the morning of April 4, the 30th anniversary of King’s assassination, a march through the city will retrace King’s last march there, which supported striking sanitation workers and took place the month before he was killed.”That’s a highlight for many people because some have never marched before,”said Kyles, whose husband, the Rev. Samuel Billy Kyles, was a friend of King and a witness to his assassination.”It’s a way of joining hands with people who were part of the earlier march.” Later that day, there will be a candlelight vigil at the Lorraine Motel, where King was assassinated. That building now houses the National Civil Rights Museum, which will receive any proceeds that result from the pilgrimage.”I just have to believe that when people leave that site that they are impacted and moved to the point that people in different communities will be led and inspired to do something,”said Kyles.”We still are talking about individual responsibility.”

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