A Wake County town is holding its first tribute to slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King on Sunday. The celebration comes just three years after the mayor outraged black leaders by saying he didn’t want any more southeast Raleigh students at Garner
GARNER, N.C. (AP) — A Wake County town is holding its first tribute to slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King on Sunday. The celebration comes just three years after the mayor outraged black leaders by saying he didn’t want any more southeast Raleigh students at Garner schools. The News & Observer of Raleigh reports that Garner pastor David Forbes, who met King, will lead the celebration. He’ll talk about his own experience being arrested for ordering a Coke at a Raleigh Woolworth’s store. Forbes said the celebration shows the peace that has been found in the small town in the period since Mayor Ronnie Williams angered black leaders with his comments about students from southeast Raleigh. Williams insisted his remarks had nothing to do with race. He said his concerns were over busing in students from Raleigh that received free or reduced-priced lunches. In 2008, Forbes called Williams’ statement the latest insult from Garner directed toward black students. This week, though, his tone had changed. "Martin Luther King cannot be denied as a patriot whose work in civil rights has touched everyone. Certainly it has impacted Garner," Forbes said, pointing out that he grew up in southeast Raleigh and now lives in Garner. Williams said there’s been no discussion of his earlier comments during planning for the Garner event. "That’s part of the past," Williams said. "It’s not something we’ve dwelled on." The mayor said he had been mulling the idea for Garner’s King Day event for four years. "It’s sort of come full circle," said David Prince, a Garner resident who is helping to organize King events there and in Raleigh. "The mayor reached out. … Now I’m beginning to know the mayor after working on the MLK committee in Garner." Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
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