King is celebrated as a man who knew 'life is service'

ATLANTA - More than 2,000 people crowded Ebenezer Baptist Church yesterday to honor the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s commitment to peace and equality and note the importance of his legacy in this election year.

"He understood that life is not about self," said Georgia Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle. "Life is about service - and service to others."

Former President Bill Clinton, Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin were among those attending the service.

In Washington, President Bush hailed King as a "towering figure in the history of our country," and called on the nation to honor King by helping those in need.

"By loving a neighbor like you'd like to be loved yourself, by reaching out to someone who hurts, by just simply living a life of kindness and compassion, you can make America a better place and fulfill the dream of Martin Luther King," Bush said at a library named for King.

With Laura Bush at his side, Bush said the holiday offered a chance to "renew our deep desire for America to be a land of promise for everybody, a land of justice, and a land of opportunity."

King's birthday is Jan. 15, but the federal holiday is observed on the third Monday in January. It has been a national holiday since 1986, though his birthday has been observed at Ebenezer Baptist, where King preached from 1960 until 1968, every year since his assassination in Memphis at age 39 on April 4, 1968.

In Atlanta, Franklin told the audience that King "aimed high, acted with faith, dreamed miracles that inspired a nation."

Clinton said that King "freed us all to fight the civil rights battle, to fight the poverty battle, to fight all these battles and do it together. He made a place at the table for all of us."

The former president also noted the diverse presidential race that includes a Mormon, an African American man and a Baptist preacher, as well as his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"We've got all these different people seeking the presidency," he said. ". . . It's all possible because of Martin Luther King's vision."

The war in Iraq also drew a mention.

"We would be remiss if we did not commemorate Martin Luther King Jr., a champion of peace, in a time of war," said Isaac Newton Farris Jr., a nephew of King's and president of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change.

Farris urged diplomacy, economic incentives, and other nonviolent efforts "as an alternative to military intervention to end the war in Iraq," drawing applause.

King's widow, Coretta Scott King, worked for more than a decade to establish his birthday as a federal holiday. She died in 2006 at age 78.

While many praised King yesterday, others protested. About 50 white separatists protested in tiny Jena, La., which was thrust into the spotlight months ago by 20,000 demonstrators who claimed prosecutors discriminated against blacks.

Police separated participants in the "pro-majority" rally organized by the Learned, Miss.-based Nationalist Movement from a racially mixed group of about 100 counterdemonstrators outside the LaSalle Parish Courthouse. There was no violence and one arrest: a counterdemonstrator.

Chants of "No KKK" from the mostly college-age counterdemonstrators were met with a chant from separatists that contained a racial epithet.

Race relations in Jena have been in the news since six black teenagers were arrested in the beating of a white classmate in December 2006. Five of the blacks were originally charged with attempted murder, leading to accusations that they were being prosecuted harshly because of their race. Charges have since been reduced.

Go to http://go.philly.com/ kingday for video of President Bush's speech and more.EndText