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Talbert Shaw, the president of Shaw University, says that young people today have it easy, and it's easy for them to forget the civ
RALEIGH — His message echoed Thursday in schools and churches, and even in the mostunenlightened corners of the nation.

The "official" Martin Luther King Holiday is this Monday. His actualbirthday was four days earlier. While there are events all weekend,there weren't many on the fifteenth. But, leaders at Shaw Universitybelieve King's birthday is important. When you're trying to teach ageneration that knows him only from history, it's important to nail thedetails.

By the time Steve Corley was born, Martin Luther King had been dead fornine years. Of course, Steve and his classmates atShaw know about him. But, unlike their parents, they didn't know him.

And that, says Shaw president Talbert Shaw, makes all the difference.As reinforcing as celebrations like Thursday's are, they can't convey asense of what Civil Rights was like.

At their best, celebrations aren't once-a-year sermons to be endured.They reinforce what students already know. It ensures that the nameMartin Luther King will always be more than a name written on a streetsign.

There are events all weekend surrounding Martin Luther King, Junior'sbirthday.

Friday morning at 11:30 there will be a candlelight vigil on Duke's WestCampus. Monday at 11 a.m., there will be a "Cultural Carnival" atUNC-Chapel Hill's Student Union.

In Raleigh, a march leaves the State Capitol at 11:30 a.m. And, at 7 p.m.Monday, there will be an evening of music at Raleigh's MemorialAuditorium.

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