NAACP Honors Dr. King During Lake Elsinore Prayer Breakfast

Tribute, gospel and gut wrenching first-hand accounts of what it was like to be on the front lines of the civil rights movement marked the sixth annual Martin Luther King Jr. prayer breakfast today in Lake Elsinore.

Organized by the Lake Elsinore/Southwest Riverside chapter of the NAACP and held at the , approximately 130 people turned out for the event to honor Dr. King.

The prayer breakfast also raised funds for the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Campaign, which is working to build a monument to the civil rights leader in Washington DC. The $120 million project is expected to be complete by August, according to Lake Elsinore/Southwest Riverside NAACP Chapter President Mary Venerable.

“This breakfast is about honoring Dr. King and being part of the national effort to build the monument,” Venerable said.

Listening to Venerable open the morning prayer breakfast were city and county officials, local pastors, school board representatives, NAACP members, students and local residents.

Many said they wanted to pay tribute to the civil rights leader and to reach out to neighbors.

“This is a great community,” said Lake Elsinore Police Captain Dave Fontneau. “We all have to work together.”

Brian Tisdale, Lake Elsinore city council member and former Lake Elsinore NAACP president, was at the breakfast with his two young children.

“This event is important because it’s keeping the dream alive,” he said. “There are still challenges that we need to work through.”

Lake Elsinore Mayor Amy Bhutta came with her young son to pay tribute.

“I am here to honor a great individual who made a difference for our country,” she said.

After an invocation from Rev. Benjamin Carrington, the Adonai Ministries Christian Center Choir performed a moving rendition of the Negro National Anthem, which was followed by readings from author Richard Gordon.

A product of the civil rights movement, Gordon recounted what it was like to be black in the 1950s' South. He talked of joining the army in 1957 and taking a bus from his Southern California home to his station post in Texas.

“At one point I got off the bus and saw this big green sign that said ‘colored that way.’ I was from California. I didn’t know. I didn’t get off that bus again until I got to the base,” he said.

Gordon’s readings included lines from his play “Evergreen,” about a 7-year-old African American girl who struggles to understand bigotry and violence, and “Martin and the Mountaintop,” a poetic tribute to Dr. King.

Arguably the most moving presentation was delivered by NAACP member Norman Towels, PhD.

“When I was growing up, Martin Luther King Jr. didn’t have a day or a monument,” he said. “Long before he said ‘I have a dream,’ he was working with the people. He knew that if we were going to have a strong world, we would all have to work together.”

Towels, who noted how he broke the color barrier at Alexandria, Louisiana’s Bolton High School in 1965, recalled segregation’s one-time grip in this country and he reminded the audience not to shy from adversity.

“Martin Luther King Jr. would always have dignity in the face of adversity,” he said. “Always approach with dignity.”

Brian Tisdale closed the breakfast with what he sees as Dr. King’s legacy.

“Martin Luther King Jr. tried to give his life to serving others,” he said. “We all have that opportunity.”