OCEANSIDE: Martin Luther King’s message comes to life
Free performances scheduled this week
Date Line February 21, 2010
It was a 7th-grade teacher who guided Dennis Brown toward an interest in Martin Luther King Jr.
“That’s why it’s so important for me to tell kids about Dr. King and what he accomplished,” Brown said. “I know the effect his life had on mine.”
Brown, 62, has performed as Dr. King at schools and libraries in California since the mid-1980s. He will appear in free performances of “The Voice of King” at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Mission Branch Library Community Room, 3861 Mission Ave., and at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Civic Center Library Community Room, 330 N. Coast Highway.
In the performances, Brown will deliver excerpts from Dr. King’s famous speeches as well as sing songs associated with the King era and slavery.
“I give a narrative discourse on the Civil Rights movement, and simulate Dr. King’s voice,” Brown said. “I start out with what happened with Rosa Parks and her arrest, and talk about incidents that made Dr. King who he was. I sing the songs and I close with excerpts from the mountaintop speech and the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. I let them know that for 13 years Dr. King led this movement of peace, yet for 13 years he was living under the threat of violence. But he pressed on.”
The performances compel young people to ask questions about Dr. King, and older audience members to sometimes become emotional.
“It’s not uncommon for people to shed tears,” Brown said. “I tell the audiences that love has power, and power has conviction.”
Brown performs 50 to 70 times at schools and libraries each January and February. He delivers speeches on other topics —- including anti-drug and tobacco lectures —- the rest of the year. Brown, an ordained pastor based in the San Bernardino area, travels throughout the state. He is the founder of the nonprofit youth education and empowerment organization Im Inc. In addition to performing live, Brown records gospel and soul music.
Brown remembers the Civil Rights movement well. He grew up in Los Angeles, and traveled to Arkansas as a child, where he was told by his grandfather that the two of them must sit at the back of a bus.
“I couldn’t understand it,” Brown said. “I wanted to understand more what was going on in this country.”
When he was 15, Brown skipped football practice to hear King deliver his “I Have a Dream” speech. After high school, Brown joined the Marine Corps and engaged in combat for nine months in Vietnam.
“That experience affected me very much,” he said. “My memories of the time are very strong. My experiences were the kind that stay with you.”
These days Brown’s experiences involve talking to those who remember that era and answering the questions of curious children.
“The question they ask most is about why Dr. King was killed,” Brown said. “I received a letter from a young girl who said that her parents were racist, but if they heard my performance they would change their minds. I tell them that 40 or 50 years ago, a performance like this would not be possible, but that their lives can be different.”
The free program is sponsored by the Friends of the Oceanside Public Library and is open to all ages. For more information, call (760) 435-5600 or go to www.oceansidepubliclibrary.org .
Share on Facebook