By Joe Severino, Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — For America’s civil rights movement, 2020 was a tough year.
Giants of the civil rights movement, John Lewis and the Rev. C.T. Vivian, both died July 17. The Rev. Joe Lowery, who helped the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, died just four months before.
All three worked closely over the years with King in the fight for racial justice and, for decades long after King was assassinated, these leaders still served as a light for that fight, said the Rev. Ron English, who served 21 years as head pastor at the First Baptist Church of Charleston.
English’s ties to the King family are well known in the community. Born in 1944 in Atlanta, English grew up attending Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King’s father served as senior pastor for 44 years. The two families were close, and English delivered a prayer at King’s funeral in April 1968.
Toward the end of his prayer, English called for the community to deepen its commitment to King’s teachings, strictly adhering to nonviolence as the foundation for change…