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The Herald and The Lantern

RememJjering Martin Luther King

The Cape' May County Branch of the National Assn, for the Advancement of Colored People is joining organizations and' efforts across the nation in petitioning the U.S>. Government to declare the birthday of Ur. Martin Luther King a national holiday. Such a designation is long overdue. . As practically any school child today knows. Dr King was the leading civil rights leader of his time; a minister and an eloquent speaker who preached and practiced non violence m the face of enormous odds (spawned by generations of bigotry and stupidity). In his quest for civil rights for the non-white, Dr. King took his.lifelong struggle to the nation's capital and beyond; eventually to the grave. IF Cl VII. HlGHTS SEEMS so obvious today,

if there appears to be less of a need to point out its importance for all Americans, all people — it is because Dr. King made it an issue for an entire nation to reckon with, a dream for all to consider if not share. , The Gandhi of his time and country, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize (four years before his murder). Dr. King was a human being whose deed should be memorialized. And scrutinized. Making his birthday a national holiday — on the same plateau with those of our other great leaders — is a posthumous honor certainly befitting the man. But, more importantly, it would help perpetuate the idea that he and other great people have died for. That without equality for all, freedom is hollow for many. The Herald & The Lantern

Wednesday, January 2*. 1981

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It is Time We Tell the World

by Ellsworth Armacost As a public official in a small community, I have some very strong feelings about the final time table for the release of the hostages. As I talk to Avalon residents,! feel they also are extremely upset The Iranian government did everything possible to belittle our former president, and that infuriates me. A matter of a few hours would have given former President Carter the privilege of announcing their release culminating his around-the-clock negotiations. There hive been very few issues on which I have agreed with Carter during the past four years, but he was the president of the greatest country in the world and should have been shown decency and respect accordingly. I commend our new president. Ronald Reagan, on his

“/ praise God that our people are safe and

As far as you can sec — Ice. A lone figure stands on one of the groins at North Cape May looking out at the frozen covering which extends outwards in Delaware Bay as far as you can see.

the ordeal is over. ”

actions in sending President Carter to meet the hostages and attributing the release^to him.

It is time we tell the world we will never tolerate this type action again. I feel each of us. whether an official or private citfzen, edn help. A letter to our congressional leaders expressing our views wifi show a united front on the hostage issue. It will also signal to the world we can unite rapidly on such issues. It is a duty each of us can assume. A few minutes time and a 15< stamp can accomplish it.

I praise God that our people are safe and the ordeal is over. * ... I commend former President Carter on his long hours in reaching the final agreem<ji{t. but we as a people have to show Iran and any other country, we will not stand for any such action again. —Ellsworth Armacost is mayor of Avalon.

Land of the Free, Home of the Brave

Among the many gratifying and joyous aspects of the return of the 52 American hostages, none can be more important to the millions of pepple not directly involved as family or friends of the returnees than the fact that it proved to the whole world that the grtatness of the United States goes beyond its military strength. ... The safe return of the hostages shows to all nations and peoples of Earth that the United States is, indeed, the land of the free and'the home of the bfavg. ' The spontaneity, the fervor that erupted and has continued thru the pakt week represents at once both an individual emotion and a national pride which hasn’t been felt since others of our

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countrymen landed on the Moon. THE HOPE. THE PRAYER, should now be that once this catharsis is over, we as a people use this incredible event — the return of the 52 — as a focal point for a new understanding of ourselves and our relations with the other inhabitants of this globe. this national reflection must go far beyond a re-examination of such mundane (albeit important) concerns as embassy security andlnternational relations, to the very heart of understanding between men and among nations. , It seems ironic that jn the decade of 1984 it was a third world nation where the power of the control of the masses via propaganda would come into such sharp focus on a global scale. When one considers that it was largely one man (the Ayatollah Khomeini) who controlled the fate of the 52 hostages despite the seemingly disorganized students and other captors, then the reality of that long, long captivity half a world away comes into focus. What is perhaps most amazing was, believe it or not, the restraint shown by Khomeini and by the actual captors. The safe return of the Americans after s<r long was indeed miraculous given the hatred for our government as expressed and avowed by the leaders and the people who were the captors those long 444 days. WE IN THIS COUNTRY occasionally refer to a media event, something that's big enough to warrant tv news coverage. For over a year, one man has virtually dominated the public consciousness of most of the so-called civilized world. An unknown and still a puzzling figure, the Ayatollah controlled the lives of 52 directly and the fate of millions, indirectly. We should certainly give thanks that our fellow countrymen and women are home. But we must also resolve, as individuals and as a nation, that we have a great deal to learn and to understand in the world around us. Successful resolutions of such surprises as

* • t : the holding of 52 American hostages for 14 months on the other side of the world come perhaps once in a lifetime. For Uncle Sam, for John Q. Citizen, we must take the mystery out of un-American. By a new understanding and a new resolve, we must see to- it tfiat foreigners aren’t so foreign. IN THE MEANTIME, we can be proud to be Americans, hot only because of the bravery of our 52 fellow countrymen (who appeared to represent a cross section of our nation), but als» because in the face of a new adversity, we didn’t react in older, baser ways. Our reaction to Iran proved we learned our Viet Nam lesson. One can only speculate what the next chapter will be in the international book of Earth relations. But now, we don’t have to be hesitant. Read on, proud America. The Herald & The Lantern