Warwick's Union AME Church celebrates Martin Luther King Jr.
WARWICK — On Monday, Jan. 20, members of the Warwick Union African Methodist Episcopal Church (UAME) and guests from throughout the Warwick community, including local pastors and officials, celebrated Martin Luther King Day.
The guest preacher for the annual event was Rev. Melvin R. Wilson, presiding elder, Brooklyn-Westchester District.
A well-attended congregation that morning had gathered to honor the memory of King, the world famous civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prizewinner who was assassinated in 1968.
Early in the service Rev. Kevin T. Taylor, pastor of the Warwick Union African Methodist Episcopal Church, led the congregation in singing the National Anthem.
He also read a letter from Michael Bertolini, president of the Town of Warwick Historical Society, on the progress of the renovation of the original UME church building, which will become an African-American Museum serving the Hudson Valley Region.
And for the second consecutive year, young members of the Black Dirt Dance Studio, performed a creative dance in tribute to King.
Members of the UME Youth Ambassadors each presented individual tributes to King.
A few words
Special guests, who gave presentations, included Town of Warwick Supervisor Michael Sweeton, Mayor Michael Newhard, Judge Nancy De Angelo, Judge Peter Barlet and Cedric Glasper, president and CEO of Mechanical Rubber and past President of the Warwick Valley Chamber of Commerce.
Glasper said that many items on his "bucket list" for equality are still waiting to be achieved.
"So many tears have been shed to arrive at this point," said Newhard, "and not one tear was shed in vain."
Before his talk, Sweeton praised the UAME Tabernacle Choir for helping to make this a memorable occasion.
Attorney Douglas Stage invited everyone to stand and say the Pledge of Allegiance.
He reminded the congregation that it says, "Liberty and justice for all."
De Angelo, an honored guest for many years, praised King's legacy.
An incident in Harlem
Barlet spoke about a little known chapter in history. He told the story of Dr. Cordice, an African American surgeon, who had served in World War II with the Tuskegee Airmen, the famed group of African-American pilots.
From 1955 to 1956 he studied in Paris, where he was part of the team that performed the first open-heart surgery in France.
"In 1958, " Barlet said, "Dr. King was autographing copies of his new book in a Harlem department store when a woman approached to greet him. He nodded without looking up. Then she stabbed him in the chest with a razor-sharp letter opener."
Cordice was on the Harlem Hospital operating team and was later credited with saving Dr. King's life.
Dreams to nightmares
The last speaker, guest preacher Rev. Melvin R. Wilson, mentioned the numerous African Americans who have achieved success raging from President Obama to Oprah Winfrey.
But he said the the continuing inequality in home ownership and choice of schools, lack of universal health care and more gun control means Dr. King's dream had not been realized.
"In many ways," he said, "the dream has been turned into a colossal nightmare."
By Roger Gavan