'One Nation, One Dream': Harford County Groups Remember Martin Luther King Jr.

Nestled beside a snow-covered field off Old Post Road, a brick church quietly filled with people eager to gather together to remember Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream.

The Union United Methodist Church in Aberdeen is a small, unimposing structure, but the presence inside of black and white congregants pressed peacefully together 25 years after King’s violent death was a testament to the morning’s momentous message.

“‘A man who won’t die for something is not fit to live,’” said the Rev. Granderson Jones, quoting King during the church’s celebration of the civil rights leader.

The congregants had gathered to remember a man who was willing to die for freedom and to give thanks that his dream did not die with him.

Since 2007, the Harford County branch of the NAACP has participated in the church’s celebration of King's legacy, joined a year later by the Black Youth in Action, or BYA.

“It’s very important that young people keep the dream alive,” said Gladys Pace, president of the BYA, an organization that teaches self respect and also trains young debutantes.

“They do the debutant ball and all, teaching young ladies how to be young ladies, " said Zilphia Smith, third term president of the NAACP’s Harford County branch. "Young girls who become debutantes receive scholarships.” 

During the church ceremony, the BYA debutantes sang a selection, “Lord I lift your name on high.” Two praise groups from area assemblies also performed. The Rooted Bible Fellowships’ Waves of Praise of Edgewood and a group from Helping Hands Ministry of Churchville performed dances.

Smith also said the celebration was about making the NAACP more visible to the community.

“We use it as a ‘re-membership’ campaign," Smith said.  "The main thrust of our organization is membership.”  

Smith said the organization wants people "to understand that the NAACP is here and it is well and (they) are here to make sure your civil rights aren’t violated.”

The featured speaker of the service, Rev. Mark Groover, took his turn at the pulpit to speak to the rights of Harford County’s “nobodies”—the homeless.

Many may consider them less important and some may not be aware of their existence because they are not as visible as Baltimore's homeless, Groover said. Instead, Harford’s homeless live in the woods.

“One of the greatest tragedies in America is that certain people have been labeled as ‘nobody’,” said Groover, pastor of Clarks United Methodist Church in Bel Air. “A label of ‘nobody’ has been placed on certain people, not only as a way of degrading them, but as a way of keeping them down.”

And there are many examples, Groover said, of “nobodies” becoming “somebodies.”

He named Harriett Tubman, the slave turned civil rights hero; Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Supreme Court judge; Peter of the New Testament, the denier of Christ turned apostle; and the biblical Joseph, the slave turned second in command of Egypt. These people were all considered ‘nobodies,’ Groover proclaimed.

“But thanks be to God, who can take a nobody and make them somebody,” Groover said.

Harford County Councilman Dion Guthrie, who represents Edgewood, Joppatowne, Joppa, Magnolia and part of Winter’s Run, said he enjoyed the service.

“I thought it was great,” said Guthrie, who called the message inspirational. “I was glad I had the opportunity to come.”

Sheriff L. Jesse Bane agreed.

“I thought the service was very uplifting,” Bane said.

Some said they were pleased that Groover addressed the homeless issue.

“I was glad the reverend mentioned the homeless ... because it seems like they’re hiding,” said Darlene Sills, a woman attending the service with her daughter, Iesha Sills. “And I was wondering what I could do to help.”

Lillie Dixon called the service “very informative." It also helped that "the food was delicious,” Dixon added.

Chantal Norman, a 2010 BYA debutante, said King's dream and vision lives on.

The dream that Norman spoke of so quietly could be seen in the audience on Monday in the faces of the young whose responsibility it is to carry on the dream of the older generation.

“Today we celebrate one of the greatest men the world has ever known,” Norman said Monday. “His words still resonate in our hearts."