'First Ladies' Remember Rev. King and the Promised Land
A group of 'first ladies' gathered on Capitol Hill for the third annual summit of pastors' wives from the nation's largest African American churches.
The dreams and hopes of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. echoed within church walls Monday at Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, Md.
"What became of Dr. King's dream?" asked Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman as he addressed those gathered at the church. "It became the great moral calling of his time, and of ours. And while progress has been made, America is still not yet the Promised Land that Dr. King saw."
Such a calling came to a group of "first ladies" on Capitol Hill as they heard the alarming health disparities within the African American community. The third annual First Ladies Summit brought 75 pastors' wives from the nation's largest African American churches together on Sunday for three days of empowerment.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Describing the uplifting message that had been conveyed to the ladies during the summit thus far, Dr. June Robinson of Restoring Life International Church in Baltimore, Md. said, "Each and every one of us is special. We have our lights to shine in this world."
First Ladies Summit founder the Rev. Shelley Henderson defined a "first lady" as a pioneer and one who is first in an area, pointing to the late Rosa Parks as one example.
As one representative of the influential role pastors' wives play in the church, family and society, Thomasina Wharton of Mount Olive Church in Baltimore, Md. said the summit "causes us to model that example" of being special.
The First Ladies Summit falls on the weekend of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day every year, jointly commemorating the civil rights leader and uplifting the women who help lead the church.
"It's about celebrating Dr. King and who he was," said Robinson. "And I think they wanted to honor the first ladies...to celebrate things he believed in and to be able to continue his message."
Continuing Dr. King's message today, the second day of the summit featured a seminar presented by the National Minority Health Month Foundation, founded in 1998. Dr. Gary Puckrein provided some alarming numbers to the first ladies who were stirred by the higher risk of heart failures, high rate of AIDS infections and limited access to health insurance within the African American community.
Puckrein noted that "society has not responded well with minority health" and called the ladies to work collaboratively to mobilize society to be more responsive.
"The church has a big role in this," he stated, further explaining the church's leadership in compassion. "Its voice is incredibly important to its congregations and members...to leverage pressure on society to be more responsive."
"And no better occasion to do it than King's holiday," he said.
While Dr. King led the nation in strides towards equality and freedom, the Promised Land has not yet been reached, as Mehlman had stated.
"Here, on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we begin our struggle," said Puckrein.
