C-LeB28
Moderator
By ROMA KHANNA
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Fifty-five years after Thomas Freeman taught Martin Luther King Jr., the Texas Southern University professor led four of his students to the White House on Monday to honor the slain civil rights leader.
The Houston students sat in the front row as President Bush signed a proclamation calling King a "modern American hero" and pledged to create new federal scholarships in his honor.
And after echoing King's message during their tribute, the students found themselves face to face with his widow, Coretta Scott King.
"I was real quiet, and actually short of words," said Terrick Brown, a member of TSU's nationally recognized debate team, which sent the delegation to the White House Martin Luther King Jr. Day ceremony. "It was an awesome experience to think about what she stands for and all of the work she has done."
Observing the tribute to her husband, who would have been 73 on Jan. 15, King applauded the Bush administration's education reform plan, which would boost funding for special education and the nation's poorest and most troubled schools by $2 billion.
"Education reform will bring accountability into education," she said. "My husband was concerned with liberating all Americans from the shackles of illiteracy and ignorance."
Flanked by King's widow and two of her children, Bernice and Martin Luther King III, Bush called education the "great civil rights issue of our time." He announced the creation of the Martin Luther King Jr. Scholars Program, which will offer public policy internships in Washington to college students.
Bush noted the event, which took place in the White House East Room, was being held in the same room where President Lyndon Johnson and King stood in 1964 when Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act.
"Some figures, renowned in their day, grow smaller with the passing of time," Bush said of King, who was assassinated April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tenn. "The man from Atlanta, Ga., only grows with the years. America is a better place because he was here, and we will honor his name forever."
King's family presented Bush with a portrait of the civil rights leader, which his widow asked to be hung in the White House.
"I can't wait to hang it," Bush replied.
Following the president's remarks, the TSU students began their performance, which "paid tribute to their fellow student (King) of some years ago," said Freeman, who coaches the university's debate team and taught King at Morehouse College in 1947.
The students read a performance piece written by Freeman, which combines King's words with original passages to urge younger generations to value past triumphs and continue to fight for freedom.
"His is a legacy that could be very easily forgotten," the 82-year-old educator said. "We need to remind ourselves that the truth he annunciated is the truth for all times and should not be lost."
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Fifty-five years after Thomas Freeman taught Martin Luther King Jr., the Texas Southern University professor led four of his students to the White House on Monday to honor the slain civil rights leader.
The Houston students sat in the front row as President Bush signed a proclamation calling King a "modern American hero" and pledged to create new federal scholarships in his honor.
And after echoing King's message during their tribute, the students found themselves face to face with his widow, Coretta Scott King.
"I was real quiet, and actually short of words," said Terrick Brown, a member of TSU's nationally recognized debate team, which sent the delegation to the White House Martin Luther King Jr. Day ceremony. "It was an awesome experience to think about what she stands for and all of the work she has done."
Observing the tribute to her husband, who would have been 73 on Jan. 15, King applauded the Bush administration's education reform plan, which would boost funding for special education and the nation's poorest and most troubled schools by $2 billion.
"Education reform will bring accountability into education," she said. "My husband was concerned with liberating all Americans from the shackles of illiteracy and ignorance."
Flanked by King's widow and two of her children, Bernice and Martin Luther King III, Bush called education the "great civil rights issue of our time." He announced the creation of the Martin Luther King Jr. Scholars Program, which will offer public policy internships in Washington to college students.
Bush noted the event, which took place in the White House East Room, was being held in the same room where President Lyndon Johnson and King stood in 1964 when Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act.
"Some figures, renowned in their day, grow smaller with the passing of time," Bush said of King, who was assassinated April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tenn. "The man from Atlanta, Ga., only grows with the years. America is a better place because he was here, and we will honor his name forever."
King's family presented Bush with a portrait of the civil rights leader, which his widow asked to be hung in the White House.
"I can't wait to hang it," Bush replied.
Following the president's remarks, the TSU students began their performance, which "paid tribute to their fellow student (King) of some years ago," said Freeman, who coaches the university's debate team and taught King at Morehouse College in 1947.
The students read a performance piece written by Freeman, which combines King's words with original passages to urge younger generations to value past triumphs and continue to fight for freedom.
"His is a legacy that could be very easily forgotten," the 82-year-old educator said. "We need to remind ourselves that the truth he annunciated is the truth for all times and should not be lost."