• 
• CLASS
• JOBS
• AUTO
• HOMES

Residents keep King's dream alive at event

Photo

Photo by Dan Lassiter

Carol Hendrix

Photo

Photo by Dan Lassiter

Members of the Spirit Squad of Beloit Boys & Girls Club, from left, Tamia Yarbrough, 8, Skylar Listenbee, 7, and Janyah Mathews, 7, watch as Billy Bob Grahn, left, and Patrick Pember play and sing traditional Native American songs before the start of a Commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at Blackhawk Technical College on Saturday.

ROCK TOWNSHIP — Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream that one day little black girls and little white girls would march together in peace and a little embarrassed giggling.

Those weren’t his words, exactly. But the spirit was right Saturday as the Badger Girl Scouts, with white and black members, cheerfully participated the closing flag ceremony of a diversity celebration at Blackhawk Technical College, 6004 Prairie Ave., Janesville.

The college, along with the Janesville and Beloit school districts and United Auto Workers 95, hosted the annual celebration, which honors King and the people who work to support peace and diversity in Rock County.

The program included music and dance performances, displays of children’s artwork, videos produced by Janesville School District students and speeches honoring late Beloit educator Hugo Henry, among others.

After the ceremony, attendees shared a potluck of multi-cultural foods.

The awards:

-- It might be hard to believe that a black boy from Pittsburgh would have anything in common with a white boy from Onalaska.

But when Bob Baldwin and Tom Evert met, they had so much in common they thought they could have gone to the same high school, Baldwin said.

Baldwin, the “boy” from Pittsburgh, presented the Martin Luther King Service Award to Evert, the “boy” from Onalaska.

The two found an instant rapport when they met, Baldwin said. Now they work together to support diversity in the Rock County community.

In fact, Evert hired Baldwin as the diversity specialist for the Janesville School District.

Evert has worked for 38 years in public education, including 36 years in Rock County. He has worked for several human relations projects including Beloit/Janesville student exchanges and human relations training for coaches, Baldwin said.

Evert has worked to encourage minority hiring in the Janesville School District and helped develop minority scholarships for Janesville students.

-- Martin Luther King Service Award recipient Carol Hendrix of Beloit told The Janesville Gazette she has a vision.

In 2009, she wants to see a new teen center in Beloit.

Pointing to her plaque, Hendrix said, “Hopefully this will inspire people to come together to work for it.”

Hendrix works with young people in the community, particularly through an outreach program at Emmanuel Baptist Church, Beloit. Hendrix, who retired in 2003 after working for 30 years at the General Motors plant in Janesville, is a singer and songwriter and especially loves to share music with young people, she said.

During Saturday’s ceremony, Hendrix led the Beloit Community Choir in a performance, including a song she wrote called “Promised Land.”

-- You could chalk it up to their willingness to share authentic Mediterranean food.

But more likely, it is a willingness to accept, teach and learn about diversity that earned a Janesville husband and wife the YWCA Peace Award.

Jaleh Dabiri was in tears when she learned that she and her husband, Fred Shahlapour, were to be honored Saturday.

She shed a few more tears when award presenter Allison Hokinson of the YWCA of Rock County read words written by Dabiri and Shahlapour’s daughter, MinaLiza Shahlapour:

“Being immigrants from Iran, my parents understand the importance of accepting and exploring diversity as well as understanding it. They often tell me that diversity cannot be celebrated without understanding and appreciating the fact that differences exist.”