web1_web1_basketball.jpeg

King’s, Misericordia basketball teams look to rebound Wednesday in Wilkes-Barre

web1_114549741-2ee121acaac3476f8707f38ed2551a5d.jpg

Former ‘Apprentice’ contestant accuses Trump of unwanted advances, files defamation suit

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Diane Wenger, associate professor of history at Wilkes University, shared what she called &#8220;a very different and unexpected&#8221; story to illustrate the day&#8217;s theme &#8212; &#8220;Power in Unity.&#8221;</p><p>Wenger delivered the keynote address at Tuesday&#8217;s Martin Luther King Jr. ceremony at the university&#8217;s Henry Student Center.</p><p>Instead of speaking on history &#8220;from the bottom up&#8221; &#8212; teaching from the perspective of history&#8217;s marginalized groups, those at the bottom of the social and economic ladder &#8212; Wenger decided to talk about a 1980 oral history interview journalist Studs Terkel did with a former Ku Klux Klan member, C.P. Ellis.</p><p>Ellis had once been the &#8220;exalted cyclops&#8221; of the Durham, N.C., KKK in the 1960s.</p><p>Wenger said Terkel&#8217;s interview with Ellis revealed that Ellis joined the KKK because it made him feel important and because &#8220;he hated blacks.&#8221; As the supreme leader of the KKK, Ellis was invited to join a committee to address racial problems in the local school system, and he ended up co-chairing the group with a militant black civil rights leader named Ann Atwater.</p><p>&#8220;The two despised each other, but they agreed to work together, although both had their doubts,&#8221; Wenger said. &#8220;But the more they talked and shared, the more they realized how much they had in common &#8212; including concern for their children and common goals as human beings.&#8221;</p><p>Wenger said Ellis, in his interview with Terkel, began to notice black people as &#8220;people&#8221; and he and Atwater became very close friends. She said before Ellis got to know Atwater, he had never talked with a black person &#8220;eyeball to eyeball,&#8221; or met a Jewish person.</p><p>&#8220;&#8221;I found they&#8217;re people just like me,&#8221; Ellis told Terkel in the interview. &#8220;They cried, they cussed, they prayed, they had desires. Just like myself. Thank God I got to the point where I can look past labels.&#8221;</p><p>Wenger said Ellis&#8217; words offer her hope &#8220;for a time when we can find strength in unity.&#8221; Wenger said people told Ellis he was living an &#8220;impossible dream.&#8221; They told him he sounded like Dr. King.</p><p>&#8220;An ex-Klansman who sounds like Martin Luther King &#8230; I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s an impossible dream,&#8221; Ellis told Terkel. &#8220;It&#8217;s happened in my life.&#8221;</p><p>Also participating in Tuesday&#8217;s event were: Santana Velez, a senior biology major who serves as president of the Multi-cultural Student Coalition; Dr. Anne Skleder, Wilkes University provost; Georgia Costalas, Center for Global Education and Diversity; the Mt. Zion Abundant Praise Dancers; Erica Acosta, associate director of diversity at Wilkes; and Elizabeth Sullivan, Wilkes librarian.</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_TTL011717WilkesMLK1-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Sienna Tabron, of the Mt. Zion Abundant Praise Dancers, performs Tuesday at the Wilkes University Martin Luther King Jr. celebration. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_TTL011717WilkesMLK1-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Sienna Tabron, of the Mt. Zion Abundant Praise Dancers, performs Tuesday at the Wilkes University Martin Luther King Jr. celebration. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_TTL011717WilkesMLK2-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Yamir Williams listens to Dr. Diane Wenger speak during the Martin Luther King Jr. program at Wilkes University on Tuesday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_TTL011717WilkesMLK2-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Yamir Williams listens to Dr. Diane Wenger speak during the Martin Luther King Jr. program at Wilkes University on Tuesday. </caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_TTL011717WilkesMLK3-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wilkes University Provost Dr. Anne Skleder speaks at the MLK event Tuesday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_TTL011717WilkesMLK3-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Wilkes University Provost Dr. Anne Skleder speaks at the MLK event Tuesday. </caption2><photoCredit2>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Bill O&#8217;Boyle</p><p>boboyle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Wilkes’ MLK program features ‘a very different and unexpected story’