Education stressed at program honoring King Jr.
The importance of education was stressed during a program Sunday to honor the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement he led.
“Today we have more opportunity to learn than ever before, but we have students who don’t want to learn,” said the Rev. Dewvaul Tracy of Beulah Baptist Church in Smithfield.
Tracy was the main speaker at the annual Black History Heritage program held at Mount Rose Baptist Church in Uniontown in commemoration with Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
King and other civil rights leaders fought hard to ensure that today’s black youth would have the same educational opportunities offered to other children growing up in the United States, Tracy said.
“Education is important,” he said. “If you don’t go to school and learn as much as you can, you’re not going very far.”
Tracy said he marched with King in Richmond, Va., in 1963 after hearing the civil rights leader speak four years earlier.
He cautioned today’s black youth not to let the work of previous generations go to waste, and he instructed parents to be bold disciplinarians who make sure their children know the importance of a good education.
“Every child should be studying one to two hours a night,” he said, noting that he often drives through Uniontown once school has already started and sees children out on the streets going to school late.
Tracy said that if you ask parents why their child is going to school late, they’ll say he or she didn’t want to wake up. Parents, he said, need to stop excusing their child’s behavior and make sure the child is in school.
“Parents are supposed to be in charge. We have to give the guidance to our children,” he said, noting that guidance begins at home with the parents, followed by the church and the community.
Tracy told the youth in attendance at Sunday’s program that they will face challenges in their lives but that the challenges are nothing they can’t overcome.
“God will help you overcome,” he said.
Tracy told students to go to school, pay attention, do their homework and study hard, adding that they will not fail as long as they have a sound education and a life led by God.
“You cannot do anything without God in front,” he said.
Furthermore, Tracy told the youth to dream big and believe in their dreams.
“Have a dream. Everybody wants to have something in life that’s meaningful,” he said.
Tiffany Blaho, who is youth director and assistant superintendent of the Sunday school at Mount Rose, served as coordinator for the program.
Blaho said it’s important that young people understand the struggle of former generations so that they can fully appreciate what they now have.
“We as young people need to realize the advantages we have today because of what occurred back then,” she said.
During the program, Aaron Tarpley, a senior at Albert Gallatin Area High School, was awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. Achievement Award.
The program also featured the youths of Mount Rose Baptist Church and Mount Olivet Baptist Church in Uniontown, who offered some readings as well as singing and miming.