Following the dream

MLK's friend speaks at

Nora church

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

HANSKA -- Love will outlast the stars while violence begets every thing it seeks to destroy.

Love will drive out hate.

Such was the message of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that the Rev. Fred Doty of Mankato spoke of at the Sunday service at Nora Unitarian Universalist Church.

Today, the United States observes Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a national holiday. He was born Jan. 15, 1929. The civil rights leader was assassinated in 1968.

Doty -- a retired United Church of Christ minister who holds a Ph,D. in clinical psychology -- worked with King during the civil rights protests of the 1960s. While a pastor in Malibu, Calif., Doty read King's book "Strive Towards Freedom." He was so impressed, he called King and asked him to visit him on the West Coast.

King replied that he was a very busy man and asked him to call back in a year. Doty returned the call, and King became his houseguest and spoke at his church. The two men became good friends, taking part in marches in Washington, D.C., and Selma, Ala. along with many other black and a small number of white leaders.

Doty said he called King because he grew up in a segregated part of the country -- Old Hickory, Tenn. When Doty was young, his parents told him that he would understand segregation some day.

"Thank God I never did," Doty said.

He was so enthralled by King, Doty offered to move from California to the Southeast to help King during the civil rights movement. King told Doty to stay where he was.

"He put his hand on my knee and said there were people that needed me and that there was work for me to do where I was -- so I didn't move," Doty said.

King taught him that injustice has to do with relationships among people, not what color their skin was.

People stunt their growth when they harm others, Doty said.

His experience at the Washington, D.C.m march was one he'll always remember. Doty met an old black woman who told him "I ain't tired yet cause I'm marching for freedom."

He called her "madam" to her surprise.

"You must be from a long ways from here. No white man around here ever called me 'madam,'" the woman told Doty. She shared some of her egg salad sandwiches with him.

After the march, Doty learned that many Washington blacks were afraid to march, fearing what might happen after the "white negroes" (whites that marched) left.

The march in Selma, Ala., was even more intense. Whites shouted disparaging remarks and spat at the marchers. Police lined up two abreast, determined to keep marchers from crossing a bridge. Marchers stopped and prayed as they approached the bridge.

The marchers turned and walked towards a "redneck" bar and restaurant where two of them were beaten. Two white men ran away from the marchers after the beating.

A white woman spoke to Doty near the restaurant.

"She said she didn't want us there but said God must have wanted it or the marchers wouldn't be there," Doty said.

Another of Doty's favorite King quotes went like this: "The worst thing is the death of the spirit. You've never really lived until you've found something worth dying for."

King's home was bombed. Despite the danger to his family, King advocated non-violence. He told a crowd of angry blacks near his home that "he who fights by the sword will die by it. Love your enemies that curse and despise you. Fight hate with love."

At that point, King went to his office and wept. Soon, he heard a voice that told him he'd never be alone. He was never afraid again, Doty said.

Quoting King, Doty told parishioners to follow their dreams right where you are with non-violence.

"Stay where you are. You're needed to see the faces of your brothers and sisters," Doty said. "The journey won't be easy but you won't be alone. Create light against the darkness ... chase hatred from the heart ... mend broken lives ... give meaning back to every human life."

Doty's wife Kathy (Hohn) was born in New Ulm and lived here until she was five years old. She is writing a book soon to be published about life in New Ulm during World War I. The book is expected to be released before the 2003 Heritagefest.