Editor, I was born on Nov. 14, 1934, in Pembroke. I remember the Jim Crowe Days, when I was guilty of using the “N” word as an elderly African American couple walked by.
My Grandmother Stephens overheard me. She was an advocate of corporal punishment, and on this occasion she exercised that right. She included the following message: “Young man, when they come back by you will apologize for your bad behavior, and from now on you’ll refer to them as Uncle and Auntie.”
I often worried about the meaning of those words. I wondered why public water fountains were labeled “Whites Only.” Why I got to sit down stairs at the movies and they (African Americans) were forced upstairs.
I wondered why I got to attend 12 years of school with no African Americans attending. I wondered why my African Americans friends lived in the n----- quarters. I wondered why my auntie and uncle were treated so unfairly. I wondered why when there were dirty, hard, low-paying jobs to do, they were given to my auntie and uncle. Grandma Stephens would not be pleased.
As I sit here today on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday watching the inauguration of President Barack Obama, I also remember that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a God-called preacher, and that God was responsible for his success. If King still had a dream, it would be that this country would cease to perform abortions.
Let us all remember that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a preacher and was responsible to God. I believe that he would be pleased to know this country had truly fulfilled this preacher’s dream by making abortion illegal.
May God add his blessing. Amen.

— Elder Spencer Moore, Pembroke