Isaac Newton Farris, president of The King Center, told the jubilant crowd on what would have been King's 80th birthday that the election of Barack Obama was built on a foundation laid by King and was a ``gigantic leap'' toward the fulfillment King's dream. The sanctuary of Ebenezer Baptist Church was packed, with dozens of people left outside.
``There is definitely a spiritual connection between these two events,'' Farris told the mostly black congregation that erupted in applause at any mention of Obama's name.
But he cautioned the crowd that Obama's ascent to the nation's highest political office is not the final achievement of King's vision.
The King Day crowd was to hear a keynote address from the Rev. Rick Warren, a Southern Baptist who opposes gay marriage. Warren was then heading to Washington, to give the invocation at Tuesday's inauguration, which is expected to draw more than 3 million people.
Farris said that as long as disparities persist in health care, education and economics, King's work remains undone.
``The dream was not about an individual or any race of people attaining power,'' Farris said. ``It was a human dream.''
King preached at Ebenezer Baptist Church from 1960 until his death in 1968.
Only one of King's three living children, Bernice, attended the Monday event. His sister, Christine King Farris, led the ceremony.
King's son Martin Luther King III was in Washington already and his other son Dexter King who lives in California did not attend. Their other sister, Yolanda, died in 2007.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2009/1/216971