I made the paper!

Jody Harris, of Atlanta, paints an American flag behind silhouettes of Martin Luther King Jr. and Barack Obama on Monday at the Dalton Community Center during the United Way’s “Day of Service.” Volunteers painted several desks from the Emery Center with quotes and images depicting the civil rights movement.
/ Misty Watson

This is the article that goes along with the front page picture!

Words into action

Residents volunteer to honor MLK, serve community

Jamie Jones
Most holidays off from Dalton High School give Leonardo Martinez a chance to play sports with friends.

But not the Monday set aside to celebrate the life of Martin Luther King Jr.

Martinez was among numerous volunteers who put King’s words into action Monday as part of the United Way of Northwest Georgia’s “Day of Service” at the Dalton Community Center. Students on the United Way Youth Council helped organize the event.

“I wanted to help the community out, make the world a better place,” said Martinez, a 17-year-old sophomore. “I wanted to come here because my friends talked about it, and it sounded like something cool.”

Youth volunteers set up tables representing different countries and cultures including Mexico, Morocco and Scotland. The booths had information about the countries, while volunteers helped children with art and craft projects.

One of the more popular work stations gave children and teenagers an outlet for expression. Volunteers painted 24 desks from the Emery Center with quotes and pictures depicting the U.S. civil rights movement. The Emery Center, an African-American heritage/multicultural center, is where the first public school in Dalton once stood. The desks will be displayed in schools throughout Black History Month (February). They will later be auctioned with the proceeds going to the Emery Center.

Martinez meticulously wrote a quote on a piece of drawing paper. He planned to paint the quote from King: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Martinez interpreted the words as a call for freedom and to stop judging people.

There was also a professional artist there to help. Jody Harris, a 1994 graduate of Dalton High School, painted several desks. One was an image of President-elect Barack Obama with the words “Embrace Change,” another of future first lady Michelle Obama, and the final piece (with help from his cousin, Mario Harris) featured silhouettes of Obama and King with an American flag in the background.

“It’s basically part of Dr. King’s dream coming to fruition with Obama becoming president,” Harris said of the Obama/King painting. “This is my tribute.”

Martin Luther King Day holds special meaning to Harris, who is black.

“It used to mean honoring my ancestors and forefathers and everything they went through, but now it’s about the meaning of everybody embracing change and just coming together like Obama did — and everybody has, just look around,” Harris said.

Obama will be sworn in today as the country’s first black president. At the community center, three posters of Obama are in the lobby alongside posters bearing the images of black pioneers in government, science and education. There are also photographs of two former black Major League Baseball players who were born in Dalton: David Mann and Harry “Suitcase” Simpson.

The messages of King — unity, equality and freedom — were an integral part of the day.

Rod Weaver, a member of the United Way board of directors, gave attendees a brief history on King’s fruitful life, from his birth in Atlanta on Jan. 15, 1929, to his death by assassination in Memphis on April 4, 1968. Weaver noted that King sought to overcome blacks “being treated as second class citizens” through non-violence, whether it was boycotts, sit-ins or marches.

“King fought to overcome these challenges,” Weaver said.

The education continued through the day, wrapping up with tours of The Emery Center.

Above is a article/picture from the Daily Citizen Newspaper. I also performed a spoken word piece. Those pictures were in the Chattanooga Free Times paper today. I feel like a star. I volunteered to oversee the painting of 24 desks from the Emery Center which will be used to raise money for this black history museum. It felt good to do something positive and use my creative abilites for good.