Blacks, too, escaped wilderness

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January 18, 2011 - 12:00 AM

Linus Thuston Monday night compared the struggles of blacks in America to the plight of the Israelites as they fled Egypt and wandered in the wilderness before reaching the promised land.
Thuston, a Chanute attorney, spoke at the 20th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day community recognition at Ward Chapel A.M.E. Church. He drew on Scriptures from the 11th chapter of Deuteronomy.
The theme of the event was “The Dream: Rejoice, Reclaim, Renew Community.”
Blacks in Allen and Neosho counties were not immune from the struggles faced by those elsewhere, he told about 75 attending the event, often facing severe segregation before social shackles were broken.
Don’t dwell on the past, he said, rather look to what lies ahead. “You have get past the history of struggles” and take advantage of “vast opportunities that you have.”
A necessary component, he added, is prayer.
“You have to get down and really pray,” he said. “If you don’t your community is going to be lost. The light of the Lord guides us.”
He pointed to two Iolans who faced segregation and hard times before their perseverance led to success.
Harvey Rogers had to overcome not getting his due in the Army National Guard, Thuston pointed out, just as Spencer Ambler, raised in Chanute, found success working his way through the U.S. Postal Service, before retiring as Iola’s postmaster.
Thuston also recalled his successes, how he was the first black elected as a county attorney in Kansas, in Neosho County.
Thuston’s presentation wasn’t without light moments, particularly when he chided Ambler for “starting out a (Chanute High) Comet and (Neosho County Community College) Panther before moving to Iola to worship the Devils.” Ambler is a trustee at Allen County Community College, whose mascot is the Red Devils.

 IOLA MAYOR Bill Maness, in a prelude to Thuston’s comments, said the national celebration of King’s legacy was a long time coming.
“I didn’t realize how difficult it was to get it started,” Maness said, noting that a bill to establish what has become Martin Luther King Day was introduced in Congress just four days after he was killed in Memphis on April 4, 1968.
By 1983, petitions containing 6 million names asked Congress to act, and that year President Reagan signed into law enacting legislation. The day, celebrated on a Monday closest to King’s birth date, Jan. 15, 1929, became a national holiday in 1986.
Music, always a part of the celebration, was much so Monday night.
Lloyd Houk, Naomi Clounch and Pat Pulley sang upbeat gospel songs that had many in the audience clapping and joining in.

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