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Jackson, DuBois Center honored at MLK event
by Anna Meadows, Wake Weekly Associate Editor
A Wake Forest resident and a local institution were recognized Friday for embodying the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by working for justice, equality and love every day of the year.
The Rev. Thomas Jackson, pastor of Wake Forest Baptist Church, and the DuBois Center, where the event was held, were both honored during the 10th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Celebration. Individual award The celebration paid tribute to Jackson for best representing the theme of this year's celebration: Living the Dream is an Everyday Thing. Jackson, not usually a man of few words, accepted the award from his friend and presenter, the Rev. Dr. Enoch Holloway, pastor of Friendship Baptist Church. "I'm speechless," Jackson said during a standing ovation. Holloway said he was proud to name Jackson as the first recipient of the new award, which the celebration committee hopes to continue on an annual basis. "He has given his life to serve this community and its people, and he has done it unselfishly and done it with the greatest dignity and love. "He has been an advocate for bringing people together in the community -- all races, all levels of culture and economic status." Jackson is one of the founding members of the Wake Forest Human Relations Council and served as chairman of the first Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Celebration Committee. He also started a weekend renewal service, a joint service between his church and Holloway's. He has worked with CareNet, a local agency that connects people in need with the help they need, and the local AIDS ministry serving on the state level as chairman of the Baptist AIDS Partnership of North Carolina. "There is no question of his commitment to serving this community," Holloway said. Agency award Bettie Murchison, director of the DuBois Center, accepted the honor on behalf of employees and volunteers who work to bring recreation programs and job training classes to the community. The philosophy of the center, Murchison said, is expressed by the words of Jesus from the Gospel of Mark: "And whosoever of you will be the chiefest shall be servant of all." Murchison recalled her own years as a student at DuBois school, which in 1998 was purchased by the DuBois Alumni Association to house the new community center. She remembered working hard to become a majorette in her freshman year and how she set her sights the next year on earning the right to be drum major. "Wanting to be a drum major is about the basic desire for importance," she said. "It's about the desire to be out front." There is nothing wrong with being out front if you do it for the right reasons, she said. Communities need the leadership of those with the desire to be drum majors -- to be outfront in the fight to make their community a better place. Murchison then praised the myriad of people who work with the DuBois Center to make life better for those left behind. She talked about art projects the center had conducted with the help of other town organizations such as the Wake Forest Cultural Arts Association. Home repair projects for the elderly were completed with the aid of area churches. Businesses, such as The Clothes Horse, provided coats and food to neighbors in need, also through the center. Others have volunteered to tutor, set up computer labs, provide Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners to families in need or build wheelchair ramps for disabled residents. "They are all drum majors with a vision," Murchison said. In summing up, she urged the approximately 250 people attending the celebration to remember King every day and to work for his dream of equality and justice. "Be first in love; be first in moral excellence; be first in generosity," she said. "Dr. King said that in life the most important question is, 'What are you doing for others?'"
Last Updated On: January 29, 2004
Copyright 2004 The Wake Weekly