Here's a copy of this week's print column:
The location was most appropriate as several hundred people gathered recently to honor the memory of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
They were packed into Calvary Baptist Church on Second Street in Chester for one of the city’s official celebrations honoring the late civil rights leader.
If they listened closely, they might have heard the echoes of the famed orator rattling around the historic church.
King was not just something people in Chester, and Delaware County, read about in the newspaper, or watched on TV.
He lived in Chester. Attended Crozer Theological Seminary. Preached at Calvary Baptist.
Today we mark the national holiday that celebrates Dr. King’s birthday. Instead of a day off, for many it has become a day “on,” a day of community service, taking the words of Dr. King espousing non-violence and equal rights and putting them into action.
But on this Friday night, it was Dr. King’s words that resonated with the crowd.
They are words that are direly needed today, four decades after King was slain, and even longer since his time in Chester, where he put those words into action. In addition to studying in Chester, King spent three years there. He left a lasting mark on his adopted city, teaching Sunday school and getting involved in youth programs at Calvary Baptist.
More than half a century later, some are questioning how far we’ve come, how well we’ve developed Dr. King’s ideals, how far we still have to go.
Chester is a city on the move. Again.
After years of economic decline, during which jobs and much of its population deserted the city, it is in the midst of an economic renaissance.
Its waterfront is now once again a destination point, for both jobs and leisure. The Wharf at Rivertown kickstarted the movement, bringing jobs back to the city, anchored around the glittering restoration of the old Peco Power Plant.
Harrah’s Casino & Racetrack has turned into an economic juggernaut, proving wrong all those nay-sayers who said people would not enter the city limits to do their gambling.
The areas around Widener and Crozer-Chester Medical Center are bustling.
Many old public housing sectors have been demolished to make way for new housing.
There are plans for a new $2 million Boys and Girls Club facility at Seventh and Madison streets.
But Chester is not without its problems. And that issue was not lost on those who gathered at Calvary Baptist two Fridays ago.
State Rep. Thaddeus Kirkland, D-159, wondered openly about the oppression many in Chester are still trying to shed. He pointed out the violence – the antithesis of King’s message – that continues to ravage the city.
Just a day before the glowing oratory recreating the words of Dr. King filled Calvary Baptist, another sound was heard on the streets of Chester. It’s one that’s all too familiar to those who live there, and those who police the streets.
Gunfire.
A shooting incident involving a car full of young men resulted in a police chase and still another shootout, this time with police. Three young men were hit. Four face charges in the scene reminiscent of something out of the Wild, Wild West.
Police believe the original shootout was sparked by the apparent involvement of one of the teens in an earlier robbery. The victim recognized him. Words were exchanged. So were gunshots.
No one died. That is not always the case. Last year there were 43 murders in Delaware County. Twenty-seven of them were in Chester.
A lot of people believe that part of Chester’s image problem is the way the city is often portrayed in the pages of this newspaper. It is something I struggle with every day.
There is more than one side to Chester. There is no shortage of good stories coming out of the city. But it is not without its warts. All of it winds up in our pages.
This April we will mark 40 years to the day when King was gunned down as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis.
It is in that spirit that a group in Philadelphia is calling on city residents to observe “40 days of non-violence.”
It is a lofty goal.
It is also desperately needed. In Philadelphia. In Chester. And in every other town as well.
The centerpiece of Dr. King’s teachings was non-violence. Now it’s time to put those words into action. Instead of merely mourning the victims of just the opposite.
Philip E. Heron is editor of the Daily Times. Call him at (610) 622-8818. E-mail him at editor@delcotimes.com. To visit his daily blog, the Heron’s Nest, go to
www3.allaroundphilly.com/blogs/delcotimes/philh/blog.html.
The location was most appropriate as several hundred people gathered recently to honor the memory of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
They were packed into Calvary Baptist Church on Second Street in Chester for one of the city’s official celebrations honoring the late civil rights leader.
If they listened closely, they might have heard the echoes of the famed orator rattling around the historic church.
King was not just something people in Chester, and Delaware County, read about in the newspaper, or watched on TV.
He lived in Chester. Attended Crozer Theological Seminary. Preached at Calvary Baptist.
Today we mark the national holiday that celebrates Dr. King’s birthday. Instead of a day off, for many it has become a day “on,” a day of community service, taking the words of Dr. King espousing non-violence and equal rights and putting them into action.
But on this Friday night, it was Dr. King’s words that resonated with the crowd.
They are words that are direly needed today, four decades after King was slain, and even longer since his time in Chester, where he put those words into action. In addition to studying in Chester, King spent three years there. He left a lasting mark on his adopted city, teaching Sunday school and getting involved in youth programs at Calvary Baptist.
More than half a century later, some are questioning how far we’ve come, how well we’ve developed Dr. King’s ideals, how far we still have to go.
Chester is a city on the move. Again.
After years of economic decline, during which jobs and much of its population deserted the city, it is in the midst of an economic renaissance.
Its waterfront is now once again a destination point, for both jobs and leisure. The Wharf at Rivertown kickstarted the movement, bringing jobs back to the city, anchored around the glittering restoration of the old Peco Power Plant.
Harrah’s Casino & Racetrack has turned into an economic juggernaut, proving wrong all those nay-sayers who said people would not enter the city limits to do their gambling.
The areas around Widener and Crozer-Chester Medical Center are bustling.
Many old public housing sectors have been demolished to make way for new housing.
There are plans for a new $2 million Boys and Girls Club facility at Seventh and Madison streets.
But Chester is not without its problems. And that issue was not lost on those who gathered at Calvary Baptist two Fridays ago.
State Rep. Thaddeus Kirkland, D-159, wondered openly about the oppression many in Chester are still trying to shed. He pointed out the violence – the antithesis of King’s message – that continues to ravage the city.
Just a day before the glowing oratory recreating the words of Dr. King filled Calvary Baptist, another sound was heard on the streets of Chester. It’s one that’s all too familiar to those who live there, and those who police the streets.
Gunfire.
A shooting incident involving a car full of young men resulted in a police chase and still another shootout, this time with police. Three young men were hit. Four face charges in the scene reminiscent of something out of the Wild, Wild West.
Police believe the original shootout was sparked by the apparent involvement of one of the teens in an earlier robbery. The victim recognized him. Words were exchanged. So were gunshots.
No one died. That is not always the case. Last year there were 43 murders in Delaware County. Twenty-seven of them were in Chester.
A lot of people believe that part of Chester’s image problem is the way the city is often portrayed in the pages of this newspaper. It is something I struggle with every day.
There is more than one side to Chester. There is no shortage of good stories coming out of the city. But it is not without its warts. All of it winds up in our pages.
This April we will mark 40 years to the day when King was gunned down as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis.
It is in that spirit that a group in Philadelphia is calling on city residents to observe “40 days of non-violence.”
It is a lofty goal.
It is also desperately needed. In Philadelphia. In Chester. And in every other town as well.
The centerpiece of Dr. King’s teachings was non-violence. Now it’s time to put those words into action. Instead of merely mourning the victims of just the opposite.
Philip E. Heron is editor of the Daily Times. Call him at (610) 622-8818. E-mail him at editor@delcotimes.com. To visit his daily blog, the Heron’s Nest, go to
www3.allaroundphilly.com/blogs/delcotimes/philh/blog.html.
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