King's legacy remembered at Lisle breakfast

Two events, one held Monday morning in Lisle and the other taking place Tuesday in Washington, D.C., provide hope to many attending each that Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream is closer to becoming a reality.

Rev. James Miller, of DuPage AME Church, highlighted Monday's 14th annual Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast sponsored by the College of DuPage and Benedictine University.

"Where else, on a Catholic campus, can an African Methodist preacher celebrate a Baptist minister who appropriated the nonviolent human rights movement?" Miller asked. "America."

While celebrating King's legacy, however, few could resist drawing the comparison between Monday's celebration and Tuesday's inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama.

"Tomorrow we will be involved in one of the most momentous days in American history as President-elect Barack Hussein Obama is most certainly the rock star now attending his performance on the world's stage," Miller told the more than 500 students, teachers and community members filling Benedictine's Krasa Center. "But do you think that we are here today because Dr. Martin Luther King was the media and social darling of his era?"

Miller warned that King was not jailed in Birmingham, Ala., or beaten in Chicago for "winning a popularity contest."

"He was wounded and bruised for the enmity of repeating a declaration learned by all school children in history classes. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all persons are created equal," Miller said. "History will record the significance of tomorrow because for over two centuries those rights were denied."

Some attending the breakfast, however, cautioned that while King's efforts and Obama's election are certainly linked, they should remain separate celebrations.

"Today we celebrate a man who literally gave his life to see every person enjoy the same rights and experiences," said Benedictine sophomore and Naperville resident Cheryl Saunders. "Tomorrow we celebrate a man who made sure he took advantage of those rights and experiences to let us all know that we, too, are capable of reaching the mountain top if we work for it."

Six scholarship winners, three from each school, also were selected based on King-related essays they wrote.

After the breakfast, guests chose from two breakout sessions, one led by Miller, the other by Benedictine President William J. Carroll and Joseph E. Collins, interim vice president for academic affairs at College of DuPage.