Wheaton minister leads DuPage County MLK event

The enormity of celebrating the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the eve of Barack Obama's inauguration was lost on no one.

The Rev. Dr. Tracy Smith Malone, senior pastor for Gary United Methodist Church in Wheaton, even took the opportunity to close her keynote speech Monday night at Wheaton College with Obama's campaign slogan: "Yes we can."

"Tonight's celebration is different from any other night," Malone said. "Many thought this day would never be possible."

She also emphasized that King's legacy makes Obama's election possible and reminded that Obama alone can't pursue justice.

Malone, the first woman and person of color to serve as senior pastor for the Wheaton congregation, urged action from the hundreds who attended the 19th annual DuPage County celebration of King at Wheaton College.

"Dr. King was more than a dream," she said. "Dr. King had a mission: It was to disturb the comfortable and to comfort the disturbed."

Although this year's theme was "Live the Dream," Malone said King's famous "I have a dream" speech was just the tip of the iceberg of what he stood for.

She said she thinks people like to sanitize King's legacy because they believe his dream has become a reality.

King fought classism and other injustices along with racism, Malone said. She reminded those at Wheaton College King went to Memphis - the city where he was assassinated - to stand up for sanitation workers who were being paid unfairly.

She said that struggle for economic justice, as well as racial equality, both remain problems today.

"This dream is still out of reach for many Americans," Malone said, mentioning the current economic crisis, where many are afraid of losing their homes and don't have the money to feed their families.

"We must resist the temptation to think of Dr. King as only a dreamer," she said.

Especially in DuPage County, one of the most affluent areas in the nation, Malone said it becomes easy to live in a bubble and not realize what's going on elsewhere.

Malone was just one of the many religious and community leaders who took part in the annual celebration, which was punctuated with crowd-rousing music by the Wheaton College Gospel Choir and the Gary United Methodist Gospel Chorus.

The evening also included awarding scholarships to 10 high school seniors who exemplify King's goals.