‘A new perspective for Americans’

The installation today of Barack Obama as the first black President of the United States presents a new perspective for American society, according to civil rights activist MarshaRose Joyner.

Joyner, the keynote speaker at the Martin Luther King Day celebration yesterday at the American Memorial Park, said: “President Obama represents a new respect for the American people.”

Joyner was also one of the panelists of a forum titled “The Color of Unity, The Pacific Way” at the AMP Visitors Center.

The forum, which was moderated by KUAM producer Sonya Artero, also featured local historian and community leader Rosa Chailang Palacios, Department of Labor Deputy Secretary Cinta M. Kaipat, San Vicente Elementary School vice principal Betty Miller and Kagman High School teacher Ambrose M. Bennett.

Over 50 people of different nationalities attended the forum which, Sam Joyner said, was intended to remind the world, especially among the youth, of Martin Luther King’s dream that someday “we would judge a man by the content of his character, not the color of his skin.”

After the forum, participants were joined by over 50 students in a Mini March from the American Memorial Park to the north end of Beach Road up to the corner of Winchell’s in Garapan and back to the AMP for the main MLK Day ceremonies.

In her keynote address, Joyner recounted that she was born into a family whose fight for black equality and justice goes back more than 140 years.

Joyner first visited Saipan as an 8-year-old girl during the last days of World War II and, despite the turbulent and chaotic events of that period, she has fond memories of climbing the fence around the Camp Susupe Detention Center and sneaking in to play with the children living within the compound.

This is the first time that she has returned to Saipan since her first visit in 1946 and she shared her unique memories and perspectives of that period.

The Murphy-Oliver family, of which Marsha was the oldest child of the seventh generation, has owned newspapers for 110 years. At one time, they owned the largest chain of black newspapers in the world, championing the cause of civil rights.

Her great-granduncle, John Oliver was born a slave, became an attorney and was on the grand jury that indicted Jefferson Davis (President of the Confederate States) for treason in May 1866.

Joyner has lived in Hawaii for over 30 years and was at the forefront of human rights activism in the Pacific.

She said she was very excited when the plane landed at the Saipan airport.

“I recognized some [of the places I’ve been through during those times] but not the same as they were before. Saipan was really a devastated place. I still remember those days,” she said.

Joyner is a former president of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Coalition in Hawaii, a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People as well as the Non-Violent Coordinating Committee.

Yesterday’s forum was part of the commemoration activities for MLK Day organized by the African-American Cultural Preservation Committee on Saipan led by its president, attorney Joe Hill.

The other members of the organizing committee are Joyner, SGM Leslie Jackson (ret.), Rebecca Warfield, Willie Brundidge, Walt Goodridge, Samuel Joyner Jr. and AACPC Secretary Hilda B. Joyner.