By CAROL HEARD

BC Communications Specialist

The Student Government Association of Bainbridge College marked Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday celebration on Tuesday, Jan. 17, with several speakers recounting how the famed Civil Rights leader’s words impacted their lives.

BC Vice President of Student Affairs Rodney Carr said what President Abraham Lincoln said in the beginning of his famous Gettysburg Address, that all men are created equal; Dr. Martin Luther King tried to make that phrase into reality, more than a hundred years later.

Carr said he and his wife, Lorre, have tried to live those values that all men are created equal by taking to heart that all people have value. He told the MLK celebration held at the Student Wellness Center that he and his wife have been foster parents to more than 60 children and in fact have adopted one of those children, 10-year-old Caleb, who is a black boy.

BC Professor Wynton Hall said he owes Dr. King his career as a professor of speech communications and best-selling author. As a 12-year-old, Hall watched a film reel of Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

“I remember I wanted to cry but I didn’t understand why,” said Hall, who has authored or co-authored numerous books and articles on national and international figures who have used effective communications to set an agenda, including the late President Ronald Reagan. “If you want to become a great communicator or a great American, you must study Dr. King.”

The Rev. Adren Bivins recounted some of the milestones of the Civil Rights movement that were led by Dr. King.

“If Dr. King was here today, he would probably tell us to keep pressing on, but put God first,” Bivins said. “His dream became a reality, but to keep the dream alive, we’ve got to keep pressing on. The movement hasn’t stopped. Some of us have just stopped moving.”

BC student Jessica Daniels read a poem she wrote, “Together We All Stand.”

“It’s not mandatory to always hug or grab someone by the hand, but respect and acknowledge one another because together we all stand,” Daniels read, from the last verse of her poem.

First Vice President of the BC Student Government Association Patricia Williams, who served as emcee and was the organizer of the event, and President of the Student Government Association Terry Williams and BC student Shirley Florence each assisted with the program.