It was a passing of the torch at the eighth annual eighth annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Keeping the Dream Alive celebration banquet at the Isle of Capri Casino Hotel in Lula Saturday night.
Family and Youth Opportunities Division Inc. puts together the celebration banquet.
Family and Youth Opportunities Division Inc. also recognized individuals in the community who had made a difference with plaques. They were Clarksdale police chief Sandra Williams, who is the city’s first female African-American police chief, first lady of Sunshine Baptist Church Willie Lou Williams, former Clarksdale Press Register photo editor Troy Catchings, educators Wilhelmina Newson and Josephine Rhymes, executive director of the Delta Blues Museum Shelley Ritter and Clarksdale Police Department officer Victor Randle.
Dr. Cindy Ayers-Elliot, a farmer from Jackson, who earned her Ph.D. from Jackson State University, was the guest speaker. Clarksdale Mayor Chuck Espy presented her a key to the city.
“When I say I am a farmer, truly I am one that tills the soil and plant the seeds and actually see the seeds grow to produce a great harvest,” Ayers-Elliot said. “Truly, physically, this is what I do, but we do more than just plant a seed in the soil. We also plant a seed in the minds. So a lot of this goes out to the young people that are here. It was so great to see them here so we can actually pass some of this on.”
Ayers-Elliot said the seeds Dear-Moton planted at Family and Youth Opportunities Division Inc. came to fruition.
She stressed the importance of listening to King’s words.
“He truly was a poet and he truly had messages that still reach from beyond the grave,” Ayers-Elliot said. “He, too, still lives through us.”
Ayres-Elliot said King had a life blueprint sermon.
“This is for the young people out there,” she said. “What is in your blueprint? What is in your DNA? What is it that we need to be saying to make sure you and each and every one of you understand the mission and the dream that Dr. King talked about? We need to continue to say these words, not just to ourselves, but to the next generation.”
Archie Buford, director of the pre-release program for Family and Youth Opportunities Division Inc., provided reflections.
Buford was sitting in the office with his aunt, Dear-Moton, when she asked why King did not have a celebration in Clarksdale. A few months later, she called him and told him he would be the parade director.
This year’s parade is at the old Myrtle Hall School library on State Street at noon Feb. 15.
Buford recalled King being in Clarksdale.
“We’re real close to this Dr. Martin Luther King thing,” Buford said. “My grandmother and I, we marched that morning and that evening with Dr. Martin Luther King. Something went wrong that night where they had to run through 362 Yazoo and my aunt and I had to get up under the bed while all of this was going on. I remember one thing, their shoes. They all had the same shoes on. The reason why I remember it is my grandmother brought me some home. I couldn’t turn them up for nothing in the world. I played basketball, football, swim track and nothing happened to them.”
Dr. Mary Frances-Dear-Moton, announced she will no longer be the CEO/President of Family and Youth Opportunities Division Inc. Dear-Moton’s daughter, Amanda Dear-Jones, who was the Vice CEO/President of Family and Youth Opportunities Division Inc., is succeeding her.
Dear-Moton is going back to the organization she started in several years ago as the RSVP director for Coahoma Opportunities Inc.
“I’m working for Coahoma Opportunities now, but I’ll still be working in the community,” Dear-Moton said. “I’m still going to help Amanda a little bit if she lets me. I’m passing this torch tonight for Family and Youth Opportunities Division Inc. to my oldest daughter Amanda Yolanda Dear-Jones. She is ready.” Dear-Moton said Dear-Jones will have her Ph.D. in August.
“I want the community to work with her,” Dear-Moton said.
Dear-Moton had a message for everyone at the banquet.
“We are human,” she said. “We all make mistakes. Little things we might say to people hurt their feelings. Maybe I’ve gotten older now and I try not to do that, but I want everybody to take a look within yourself and start trying to treat people better and nicer. If you don’t feel good about you, then you can’t do anything to help anybody else.”
Dear-Moton reflected on some of her history with her mother, Rachel Dear, and King and why it was important to keep his dream alive.
When she was young, she could not march with her mother because she was a girl. Rachel Dear marched and went to jail several times.
“My mother put her life on the line so you all could have a job,” Dear-Moton said.
As a little girl, Dear-Moton recalled King coming to Clarksdale when a bomb was in a church.
“They had to come through our house and go through the back and go to Dr. Henry’s (civil rights activist Dr. Aaron E. Henry) drug store to get Martin Luther King out of town,” Dear-Moton said. “They were so scared and I was so upset with my mother because a few hours after that, they picked her up and took her to jail.”
Dear-Moton said she did not understand why her mother went to jail at the time, but she is now thankful.
“I am going to work hard with the community,” said Dear-Jones in her remarks after her mother announcing the passing of the torch. “I’m doing a lot of things in the community now. Like she said, please commissioners and supervisors, continue to help me. I’m in partnership now with COI, with our women empowerment program that’s quite successful.”
Dear-Jones said the women empowerment program has helped several females secure jobs. She added she also has a men empowerment program going.
She said Family and Youth Opportunities Division Inc.’s record expungement program has 138 records expunged and counting. Reading and summer job readiness programs are also part of Family and Youth Opportunities Division Inc.
“Throughout the year, we’re doing things,” Dear-Jones said. “If you can dream it and you bring it to the queen, she’ll make it happen, so please work with me.”
