For many young Americans, the birthday of slain civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. "is just a day out of school," lamented pastor Elida Phifer-Hunter.

But Phifer-Hunter said it is far more than that. It's a day to celebrate the legacy of a great humanitarian, she told the crowd Monday at the 17th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Luncheon Benefit at the Salvation Army in Cape Girardeau.

"Dr. King went through many struggles. This man and his family suffered many injustices," she told the audience, adding that King was arrested and jailed 29 times.

King won the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts on behalf of civil rights. He was assassinated in April 1968 while he stood on the balcony of a Memphis, Tennessee hotel.

Phifer-Hunter urged the crowd to help their fellow man. "We are born to forgive and survive and help one another," she said.

"Somewhere along the line, we lost that dream," she said.

Too many black and white children cannot read or write, she said. "If the cash register is down, they can't count your change."

Much of the polarization in the United States today is not about race, but economics, the Mound City, Illinois, Baptist minister said.

A former investigator for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, Phifer-Hunter said society often dehumanizes young people who become involved in dealing drugs. Many of them are young black men who did not have the opportunity for legitimate jobs, she said.

Many don't live past age 30, she added.

Phifer-Hunter said children need quality parenting and a good education that will allow them to grow up and obtain lawful employment.

"The solution is to teach your children and your neighbor's children," she said.

Phifer-Hunter decried the violence plaguing America's neighborhoods. "This country is gripped in fear," she said.

She urged the crowd to help "make your town better."

About 60 people turned out for the luncheon. A winter storm kept the crowd size down, said event organizer Debra Mitchell-Braxton.

Mitchell-Braxton told the audience that Monday was "not a black holiday. It's a federal holiday for equality."

The event committee presented Dr. C. John Ritter Humanitarian awards to Phifer-Hunter and Sean W. Braxton, son of Mitchell-Braxton and Sunday school superintendent at St. James AME Church in Cape Girardeau, for their years of community service.

The award is named after a late Cape Girardeau physician, who was active in numerous medical missions abroad.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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