King Day marked with prayer, volunteerism

At the wreath-laying ceremony: Dexter King, Coretta Scott King and Vice President Al Gore

White House proposes new initiative against racism

January 19, 1998
Web posted at: 3:07 p.m. EST (2007 GMT)

In this story

• Atlanta memorial service
• Observances elsewhere
• Related stories and sites

ATLANTA (CNN) -- The nation remembered the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. with prayers, marches and volunteerism on Monday and, for the first time, a halt in trading on U.S. financial markets.

King, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent struggle for civil rights, was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968.

He would have turned 69 last Thursday.

Atlanta memorial service

Gore speaks on civil rights Part 1 - Part 2

At a memorial service in King's hometown of Atlanta -- held at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he often preached -- Vice President Al Gore announced a Clinton administration proposal to increase spending for enforcement of civil rights laws, including fair housing laws.

The money also would be used to help investigate police brutality complaints.

Gore said the Clinton administration's proposal will help bring King's dream of equality for all Americans a step closer to reality.

Dexter King and Gore at Ebenezer Baptist Church

Other speakers at service, presided over by King's sister, Christine King-Farris, included his widow, Coretta Scott King, and 43-year-old Martin Luther King III, who last week became president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the civil rights group founded by his father 41 years ago.

Another of King's sons, Dexter, 36, is president of the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, which promotes and preserves King's scholarly works.

Family members and the vice president also participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at King's grave, which was to be followed by a parade in downtown Atlanta.

Observances elsewhere

The Atlanta service was one of many observances honoring King:

• President Clinton, wearing blue jeans and emphasizing that this was "a day of service ... not a day off," wielded a paint roller as he helped renovate a classroom at Washington's Cardozo High School. (Full Story)

• First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton was to join Education Secretary Richard Riley and others in reading to Washington-area children at a local sports arena.

• U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan linked King with this year's 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. No country, he said, could reject human rights as a luxury of the rich West.

  "The declaration and the legacy of Dr. King are two voices that speak in unison. For I believe that civil rights are human rights," Annan said at a ceremony at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

• In Ocoee, Florida, where a race riot in 1920 drove blacks away and left at least six people dead, Monday was the first-ever official King holiday.

  "It's the right thing to do, and I wish it had been done earlier," City Commissioner Scott Glass said. "I don't think it's an atonement for racial incidents of the past as it is a recognition of where we are today."

• In New Hampshire, residents planned a march to the Statehouse in Concord to rally in support of changing the day's holiday from Civil Rights Day to Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

  The day became a federal holiday in 1986. By 1992, every other state had approved some form of the holiday, though in some Southern states King must share the day with Gen. Robert E. Lee.

The holiday weekend wasn't free of controversy:

• In Memphis, protesters scuffled with police at a Saturday Ku Klux Klan rally that included speakers who objected to the holiday. No serious injuries were reported. There were about 50 Klan members and an estimated 500 protesters. About 25 people were arrested on disorderly conduct charges.

• In Albany, New York, on Monday a group of demonstrators had to be removed from a Martin Luther King Day event where Gov. George Pataki was giving a speech. State troopers forcefully removed the demonstrators after they held up signs and began shouting to protest Pataki's prison-building plans.

Correspondent Brian Cabell, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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