Martin Luther King celebration set in Moses Lake on Monday

MOSES LAKE — One of Martin Luther King Jr.’s dreams was that a black man would become president of the United States, said Moses Lake’s Marva M. Brown.

This year, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is on Monday and falls one day before the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama, the country’s first black president.

The timing isn’t lost on Brown, 69, who serves on the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration committee. The event honors the civil rights leader who was shot to death on  April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tenn.

“I believed that one day it would happen, but I didn’t think it would happen during my time,” she said of Obama being elected.

After King spoke of his dream, “Barack Obama came 40 years later and is making a change in America,” Brown said.

A celebration in King’s honor is set for 6 p.m. Monday at New Light Missionary Baptist Church, 8791 Hillcrest Dr. N.E., Moses Lake.

Brown invites everyone to attend the event.

The theme of the event is “Free at Last (Barack Obama, Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream).”

The event is for all races because King represented all races, she said.

Locally, the choir performing Monday consists of all races, Brown said.

The event committee is encouraging Moses Lake leaders to attend the celebration, such as the fire chief, mayor, school superintendent and the police chief, she said.

“They are leaders in the community and they represent the community,” Brown noted. “For the past five years, the majority of them have attended and I really have appreciated that.”

The celebration’s program consists of  the Negro national anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” a verbal tribute to King by Rev. Raymond E. Tobin Sr. and the song “Reach Up, Reach Out.”

She also mentioned the song “How I Got Over.”

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Choir always sing “We Shall Overcome,” which was King’s march song, she said.

The choir is made up of members of the Moses Lake Gospel Community Choir.

Rev. Chris Barner will present the “I Have a Dream” recitation.

Pastor Murray Bradley, moderator of the Tri-State Association (an association of Eastern Washington Baptist churches) is officiating.

Forty-one years ago, Brown learned about King’s death after giving birth to one of her daughters in New York City.

“I was in the recovering room when I heard it. It was devastating,” she recalled. “I love the Lord and I know the Lord will take care of the situation.”

“It may not be when we want it, but you see, he came and replaced (King) with a higher dream. God placed Obama in the highest position any man can hold in America.”

“I feel very blessed to have lived to see this day come,” she said. “I just wish my parents could have lived to see it (Obama become president).”