Pottstown Celebration Honors King and Debnam

Photos by Evan Brandt

Soloists in the Lincoln University Concert Choir perform Monday at the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration at Mount Olive Baptist Church Monday.

Former Police Chief Rick Drumheller, right, with
Bishop Everett Denam when he was named the
Pottstown Police Department chaplain in 2015.

Two men of God, who devoted themselves to helping others, were celebrated Monday night.

One -- the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. -- is famous the world over for his efforts.

Similarly, the efforts of the other -- Bishop Everett Debnam, pastor of Invictus Ministries -- are known all over Pottstown.

The celebration, organized by the Rev. Darrell C. Brown Jr., a Pottstown native and pastor of New Hope Baptist Church in Paoli, involved numerous Pottstown congregations.

It honored Debnam, who is ill and could not be there in person.

However, technology allowed a virtual Debnam to be there as members of his family used their smart phones to live cast the event to his hospital bed and for him to see and hear those there to honor his years of service to Pottstown.

Pottstown Mayor Stephanie Henrick and Chief Mick Markovich
presented Evertt Debnam's family with a special citation.

Benjamin Bullock, an elder at Invictus who called Debnam "my teacher, my mentor, my friend, my pastor and my bishop," said "there are not enough books to contain how great this many really is."

Among the great things Debnam did, Bullock said, was to "march in the snow to Boyertown with the NAACP so Boyertown schools would be closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day."

The Rev. Garrison Lockley, presents
some of the money raised Monday to
Everett Debnam's wife Robin.

"He has made Pottstown a better place to work and to live and we thank you," said Pottstown Mayor Stephanie Henrick, who was joined by a police honor guard, including Chief Michael Markovich, to present Debnam's family with a special citation.

A similar presentation was made by state Sen. Robert Mensch, R-24th Dist., who said Debnam "is someone who leads from the front."

The evening's collection raised $937 which was divided between Debnam's family, to help with his medical expenses, and the Molding Men and Leading Ladies mentoring program.

Four beneficiaries of that program, Trinity Rhodes-Fisher, Jesus and Heaven Charriez and Akira Love, were on hand as well Monday night.

With a small dose of nervousness, all four spoke.

Jesus Charriez said the purpose of the group is "to maximize opportunity and to minimize mistakes."

Akira Love, right, address the crowd Monday night.

Love said as important as it is to stand up for yourself, it is also important to have control over "how you react to things. There is always room to improve."

Quoting Dr. King, Love said "we must learn to live together as brothers or perish as fools."

Heaven Charriez said the group works "to be the best version of ourselves as we keep pushing for a better community."

While that may not have been a

quote from King, it was certainly in keeping with his ethos of pushing, without violence, for justice

The Rev. Dr. William H. Ball, Mount Olive's pastor.

and equality.

That ethos was one of the things that inspired last night's celebration.

"A group of Pottstown clergy took seriously the words of Dr. King, that darkness cannot drive away darkness, that hate cannot drive away hate," said the Rev. Terrance Paul, pastor of Fresh Start Ministries.

"We are called by Dr. King's legacy to continue to work together to promote civil rights and equal justice," said the Rev. Dr. William H. Ball III, pastor at Mount Olive.

Apostle Joyce Wilkerson prays during Monday's celebration.

Quoting King, Ball said "'human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.'"

King, said Joyce Wilkerson during a prayer, "was a great man who paid the price. We thank you lord for his courage. We thank you for his bravery."

Debnam, like King, was closely associated with the NAACP and Debnam is currently the vice president of the Pottstown chapter.

Pottstown NAACP Chapter President Jon Corson.

The chapter's president, Johnny Corson, presided over a special presentation to Debnam's family and spoke about King's legacy.

"There is no other day that brings so many people together of different backgrounds," Corson said.

Noting that "over 100 nations celebrate his birth," Corson said the holiday that marks that Jan. 20, 1929 "is not a black holiday. This is a people's holiday."

Also honoring both men was U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-4th dist., who said "as a little girl, I remember the day Dr. King was assassinated. I remember the mourning that overcame my house."

There was a lot of energy in the capacity crowd Monday night.

She said "there is not a love lost in Washington D.C. these days. Many of our conversations are not conversations at all. They are exercises in demonizing and making someone 'the other.' It is unbecoming of us," Dean said.

When in the capitol and feeling despair creeping in, she said she is often comforted by Maryland Democrat John Lewis, himself a civil rights icon "who marched with Dr. King. He says to me 'don't get discouraged Madeleine. Keep your eye on the prize."

Despite the fact King is his favorite historical figure, the Rev. Justin Valentine, pastor of Kingdom Life Church, said he struggled with deciding what to say about King when writing his keynote address.

The Rev. Justin Valentine said one of King's most important
legacies is his connection to the African-American church.

King is "perfectly complex," said Valentine. All too often, his legacy is simplified to his famous speech during the march on Washington.

"He was not celebrated in 1968," when he was killed while organizing sanitation workers in Memphis, Tenn.

One of the most prominent leaders to speak out against the Vietnam War, earlier than most, "it's amazing to think that the FBI consider Dr. King, who had never fired a shot, never responded to violence, and had been in jail 20 times, 'the most dangerous man in America," said Valentine.

Valentine urges all in the church to join hands and pray for peace.

In the end, said Valentine during a energetic sermon, he decided to focus on the thing that first gave King voice and always supported him -- "the church."

The African-American church, he said, "is born of pain and is the crucible of change."

He urged people trying to be politically correct to "stop saying you don't see color. We're all some shade of chocolate here tonight. Why can't you look at me and see me for who I am?"

A Reminder

Pottstown Honors Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

Digital First Media photo by Gene Walsh

The Martin Luther King Jr. Day Community choir performs Sunday at The Hill School.

Nearly 200 people participated in Pottstown's 11th Annual Martin Luther King Celebration at The Hill School's Center for the Arts Sunday.

As always, it was marked by wonderful music, and a reading of King's most famous speech from the August, 1963 March on Washington.



And with a match from Hill School Chaplain John Houghton's "discretionary fund," about $2,500 was raised from the offering to help The Salvation Army in Pottstown help the borough's homeless population.

Various pastors, including Muslim clergy from The Hill, read Bible passages and from the Koran and Gwen Hill took on the task of reading the "I have A Dream" speech.

She crushed it by the way,

I'm afraid I recorded it in one-minute segments so I could more easily fit it into the one-minute fram of Tout videos, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Stressing Pottstown's need for unity, The Rev. Vernon Ross, pastor of Bethel Community Church of Pottstown and one of the event's perennial organizers, said he hopes for a day when a representative from all 60-plus churches in the greater Pottstown area "are up here on this stage with us."

A fine wish.

Here is some more music from the celebration:



And here are some Tweets and video not only of my own, but of Mercury Reporter Eric Devlin who covered the event for the paper and from Gene Walsh, the Digital First Media photographer who shot photos for us, and posted some video as well:

Eleventh Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Set for Sunday, Jan. 17 at The Hill School

The 11th Annual Community Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration will take place 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 17 at The Hill School Center for the Arts on Beech Street.

All are invited and Hill School chaplain, the Rev. John Houghton, will serve as host.

Organizers hope to put together a 50-voice community choir to sing at the event.

There is a rehearsal tonight, 7:30 p.m. at Bethel Community Church of Pottstown, 575 N. Keim St. and another scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 13 at 7:30 p.m. for those interested in participating.

"We are working extremely hard to have a 50+ Voice Choir and we would love to have 50 Churches participating," said Vernon Ross, Bethel pastor and one of the event organizers.

Hezekiah Hill, Bethel's Director of Music, is organizing the choir and Don Corey Washington is coming off Broadway to sing Dr. King's favorite song "Precious Lord, Take My Hand," Ross said.

BCCP's Mission Ministry, headed by Juanita Jackson, in collaboration with Wegman's, is providing refreshments for the celebration.

All proceeds from the collection at the event will benefit the Salvation Army of Pottstown.

The MLK Celebration began as an effort to remember the life and work of Dr. King. But it was also initiated to bring the entire "Faith Communities" together to let the residents and others see us as a unified body, Ross wrote in an e-mail.

"Given all that's happening in the country and even here in Pottstown, I would think that everyone would be on board with advocating the message and work of Dr. King," wrote Ross. "We need 'Peace.' 'Love,' 'Unity' and 'Inclusiveness' more today than ever before now." 

Ross also wrote that organizers would like to see more "discussion and effort to get more of our youth in Pottstown to attend the celebration. Youth of all color need to understand the life and work of Dr. King' and just not understand it but pattern their lives after him when it comes to non-violence and peace."

History and Memory

Mercury File Photo

Newstell Marable speaks to Pottstown Borough Council

For the last two weeks, I have been involved, one way or the other, with exploring the life and legacy of Newstell Marable, the long-time President of the Pottstown Chapter of the NAACP, who died Jan. 21 at the age of 84.

And in doing so, I have found myself musing on the relationship between history and memory.

History, as they say, is written by the victors and although that analogy mostly applies to military history, the grain of truth remains.

For those who live through it, history may not be how they remember, or it may be different than most people think of it because of a personal memory or experience.

Here's an example:

I was speaking to Newstell's widow Millicent recently, and we were talking about Newstell growing up in the south 80 years ago, the Civil Rights era and how what was happening nationally was also happening locally.

Among the many examples of she offered of Newstell standing up against discrimination and prejudice, she mentioned in passing his efforts to get a workers social club High Street, associated with the former Doehler-Jarvis plant, to admit African-Americans.

I reflected on the fact that it was ironic how a union, frequently considered the traditional foil of conservative views, would oppose inclusion of black workers.

But she corrected me, saying "well they weren't all like that. The UAW was pretty good. They provided three buses that we took down to Washington for the march."

"Which march was that?" I asked absent-mindedly.

"The March on Washington," she replied without any change of expression.

"The one where Dr. King spoke?" I asked, eyes widening.

"Yes, we were right at the corner of the reflecting pool."

"What was it like?" I asked, suddenly more focused.

Some of the photos on display at Newstell's service Saturday

"I just remember how quiet it was, how respectful everyone was being," Millicent replied. "One fellow got hit in the head with a sign, and he was bleeding. I know it hurt, but he didn't get upset."

That march happened on a hot August day, a year before I was born.

For me, it will never be anything but history; inspiring history to be sure.

King was a wonderful writer, one of those uncommon people who can marry intellect, education and passion into a single, undeniable narrative.

And he was an even better speaker. He knew how to use rhythm, repetition and intonation to turn words into music to reach into you beyond your reason, to something deeper.

I made sure when they were young that my son and whichever of his friends I could corral, watched video of King delivering his most famous speech. I wanted them to know why they were home from school that day. I wanted them to understand how important this was.

But although it can bring tears to my eyes, and reaches forward in time with its message, it is still history for me; a thing apart, something that happened before I was born and was experienced only by others.

For Newstell Marable and his wife Millicent though, it is memory. It has the ineffable quality unique to them and their personal experience.

This gives greater texture to the anecdote the Rev. Vernon Ross mentioned during Saturday's memorial service at Bethel AME Church; how after every service, Newstell would come up to Ross and say "still living the dream reverend."

For Newstell and others of that era, I was realizing this was not an pat phrase to utter, but a recognition of and re-dedication to something they had experienced in their lives. For them, that phrase is a reminder of how hot it was that day in Washington, those neighbors who rode the bus with them, how they felt when they first heard the speakers that day.

That will never be written in a history book, and is lost with the death of each holder of those memories.

But it is as important.

Because without those personal experiences of the people who pushed Civil Rights forward in this country, that history would have been written by someone else.

The flag on display Saturday recognized Newstell's service 

in the U.S. Army.

And as I thought about the stories she told me -- having a fire hose turned on them when they marched outside Sunnybrook Pool to protest its exclusion of blacks; being chased out the back door of a Boyertown church when they spoke up against the Ku Klux Klan; being barred entrance to a social club until a white person came along to take her inside -- I realized that just as we are now losing most of the generation for whom World War II was an experience to be remembered instead of a history to be learned, Newstell's death marks a milestone in the march of the history of Civil Rights as well.

It has made me realize that we are now losing those for whom the fight for Civil Rights was not a reason for a holiday, but a reason to get up in the morning.

And while the history will remain, the memories will not

Still, Saturday was an opportunity to pass some of those memories along.

At his memorial Newstell's sister, Margaret Seltman, wisely observed "I can't tell you the things about Newstell that you know, but I can tell you what I know."

"She talked about how Newstell was like the wind. "You don't see it, but when you see the trees all bend, you know its been there. That's what Newie was like."

She said when they were growing up in Alabama, three siblings would ride to church on the same bike: "Me on the seat, Juanita on the handlebars and Newie standing up, pumping the pedals."

"Now THAT is an image that suits Newstell," I thought to myself, "pushing progress forward and taking others with him."

And Bishop Everett Debnam, from Invictus Ministries, likened Newstell to snow saying, like snow, Newstell's love and desire to help others "just falls where it will."

That seemed right too.

So in a lot of ways, Newstell Marable was an elemental force, like the wind or the snow, something you can neither avoid nor deny if you are in its path.

And Ross was right too when he said "we need more like him."

After all, there's still more history to be made.

Remembering Dr. King

Photo by Tom Kelly III 

The 2012 Martin Luther King Jr. celebration was held at The Hill School, as will this year's. 

The Annual Pottstown Community Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration will be held on 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 19,  at The Hill School Center for the Arts.

The entire Pottstown Community is invited to share in this celebration as we remember the "Life and Work" of Dr. King. 

Organizers are asking those reading this to mark their calendar and encourage members of their congregation/ organization to attend. 

Local business, political, religious, education, student and community leaders are encouraged to attend

They hope to make this "our largest ever celebration given the fact that it was only a few months since we celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the 'March on Washington,'" the Rev. Vernon Ross, pastor of Bethel AME Church, wrote in an e-mail received by The Mercury.

Please note that the offering this year will be given to the Pottstown School District to support its Math/STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) Program.

"We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character …. That is the goal of a true education," King wrote in 1947 in the student newspaper of Morehouse College in an article titled "the purpose of education."

The Pottstown Community MLK Choir will be singing along with other Instrumentalist. Those interested in singing are invited to attend the upcoming Choir Rehearsals to be announced.  

Refreshments will provided by Wegman’s

Those who wish to be listed as a Participating Supporter, should confirm with Rev. RossVernon.Ross@LMCO.COM or 610-805-9084.

More Events Honoring Dr. King

Some of you may have seen the story published in The Mercury Tuesday about area events honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Well since that ran, I have found out about two more here in Pottstown.

In addition to the all-faith celebration is scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 20, at 3 p.m. at St. James Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1101 E. High St., in Pottstown, there will be a Day of Service the next day at Second Baptist Church, 507 N. Adams St.

That event begins at 10:30 a.m.and will feature the Rev. Dr. James L. Graham, of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Herndon, Va.

Also on hand will be special guest soloist and gospel recording artist Minister Willie Heard as well as the Pine Forge Academy Choir.

A luncheon follows the service and all are welcome.

Additionally, Montgomery County Community College faculty, staff and students will be conducting a Day of Service and helping out at the Olivet Boys and Girls Club at the Ricketts Community Center in Pottstown, as well as the Police Athletic League in Norristown.