©2011 Galesburg Broadcasting Co.
| Galesburg Remembers the Dream |
Jim Jacobs says he was probably like a lot of people growing up in Galesburg in the 1950's and 60's -- not all that tolerant of other races.
Jacobs told the annual King Day Community Breakfast Monday words now deemed inappropriate were often used in his house, by him and his father. But as he got older, Jacobs says he understood more and more about racial equality, and then became a follower of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Day, Junior.
Jacobs says he and his brother then watched King's famed "I Have a Dream" speech live on television, and says his whole household was changed, too.
"Maybe it was where Reverend King quoted from the prophet Isaiah," Jacobs said. "'One day, the valleys will be made, and shall be exalted, the mountains will be made low, the rough places will be made smooth, the crooked places shall be made straight, the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see.'"
"I'm not sure if that was it or not, but my dad uttered two words that absolutely changed our family. He said, 'He's right.'"
Jacobs says he and others from Galesburg even went to Atlanta for King's funeral following his assassination.
He says he believes if King were alive today, there would be many things King would be pleased with, but so many more he wouldn't.
(Jim Jacobs speaks at Monday's Martin Luther King Day breakfast in Galesburg.)
(State Rep. Don Moffitt and Mayor Sal Garza were among those in attendance who were asked to hold hands during a singing of "We Shall Overcome." WGIL News Story and Photos by Will Stevenson.) |
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| 01 17 12 by Newsroom |
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