THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Tuesday, January 17, 1995              TAG: 9501170310
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY                     LENGTH: Short :   45 lines

KING, THE MAN AND HIS MESSAGE REMEMBERED

Under a threatening gray sky, about 150 people gathered around City Hall Monday to sing the praises of the man who had brought them together.

Led by Elizabeth City State University student Tranace Fayton, the group sang ``Lift Every Voice and Sing'' in one of many area observances of Martin Luther King Jr. day.

The participants had made the annual morning march from the ECSU campus to the front of the municipal building - singing, talking and celebrating as they made their way through town.

City Council members and community leaders, both black and white stood by, and children sat in a semi-circle of folding chairs as speakers in the 45-minute program recalled the assassinated civil rights leader's message, and challenged citizens to continue his work.

``Thirty years later,'' said NAACP representative Michael Brooks, ``we are still struggling - as long as statistics tell us one out of every four black males are incarcerated instead of telling us one out of every four black males are in a university.''

ECSU Chancellor Jimmy R. Jenkins said King espoused a simple solution to the problems of economics and racial disharmony that burden Americans. ``He said the best way to deal with that was to judge people by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin,'' Jenkins said.

``It's unfortunate that there are those who believe it's a black struggle,'' Jenkins added. ``All of us are bound in this country'' by people who play on others' fears.

City Councilwoman Myrtle Rivers, who has chaired the celebration for three years, pulled participants together in a pledge that she administered, oath-style, from the podium:

``On this holiday, I commit myself to living the dream by loving, not hating; showing understanding, not anger; making peace, not war; helping freedom exist for all people, everywhere in the world.''

Volunteers served hot dogs following the celebration at Hobbs Park. Rivers said she was delighted with the ``fantastic turnout'' for the event. by CNB