CHICAGO (WLS) In the early 1980s, there was a big push to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with a holiday. Chicago pastor Rich Redmond had been working on a state celebration with Harold Washington, so he reached out to the King Foundation. To my surprise, Hosea, I get the call back from Mrs. Coretta Scott King and I was floored! Pastor Redmond said.
Mrs. King was coming to the city for a fundraising concert at the Chicago Theatre featuring Tony Bennett. It was one of her only times to talk, so she invited Redmond. She was so down-to-earth, so I thoroughly enjoyed our time together, he recalled Invited to a concert to sit in her private booth, just me and her. She just met me. What trust; you know, she had her security with her.
Peaceful activism doesn’t fully represent Martin Luther King Jr.’s work, said speaker Crystal Sanders in an online lecture honoring the civil rights leader’s birthday last Thursday.