Jan. 19—NORWICH — Student leaders embraced the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy of peaceful protest Friday, but also pledged to take up King's refusal to sit back and let injustice prevail.

The Norwich NAACP celebration of King's birthday continued Friday with the 39th annual King birthday luncheon and youth service awards at Norwich Free Academy, attended by about 100 people. The event continued the theme of "The Power of Peace," highlighted during Monday's Martin Luther King Day march and program.

Federal, state and local education, business and political leaders praised student scholarship recipients and the NAACP Robertsine Duncan Youth Council for its work to promote education, organize political debates prior to fall elections and dedication to public service.

"Peace is not just a lack of war. It is a place where people can live free of discrimination, live free and be free of violence," said Anthony Erardy, eighth grader at the Integrated Day Charter School, reciting his scholarship speech. "Peace is not given to us. We have to work for it. Each one of us can make change."

Fellow charter school scholarship recipient, eighth-grader Vanessa Paul discussed how she had voiced a complaint about her school's dress code to a teacher, who responded by asking the student what she planned to do about her complaint. Vanessa helped organize the effort to change the policy.

"Change comes from us. We can't wait for someone to lead us," she said. "We are the leaders. We are the change."

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., reminded the gathering that while King is widely honored as a hero today, in his time, he was a controversial figure to some, bucking the then-norms of racial segregation, unequal access to education, jobs and housing.

Blumenthal quoted his own hero, the late Georgia U.S. Rep. John Lewis, who famously advocated for "good trouble" or peaceful protests to challenge injustices.

"King was nonviolent. He was respectful," Blumenthal said to the students sitting at the front tables Friday. "But he stood up, stood tall. He wouldn't take no for an answer. I hope that you will preserve that sense of resolve and be daring and bold, seeking to make 'good trouble,' as John Lewis said.

Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz said Connecticut played a role in shaping King's stance on equal rights. During his college years, King worked for two summers on tobacco farms in Simsbury. King recalled being forced to ride in separate train cars on his way to Connecticut until he got north of Washington, D.C. In Connecticut, he recounted sitting in fine restaurants in Hartford along with white diners.

Keynote speaker, state Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, added that King not only refused to accept segregation and being barred from sitting at the same restaurant table as white citizens, King also wanted to be sure everyone could afford the food on that table. She noted that King was assassinated while working with labor leaders to advocate for living wages for garbage collection workers.

As the gathering honored King legacy, speakers also paid tribute to the Rev. Gregory Perry, who had organized the city's King birthday marches and programs for decades. Perry died unexpectedly Jan. 5, but not before he had put some final touches on the theme, "The Power of Peace."

The Rev. David Horst, pastor of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation and chair of the Norwich Area Interfaith Association, had met with Perry to work on the event in the weeks before Perry's death. Perry chose a quote from King's 1967 speech on peace, including King's words: "It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it," to exemplify the Norwich celebration's theme.

"I think we can all understand the reason," Horst said of Perry's choice. "Nations of the world are at war once again. And our divided nation too, we fear, is at war with itself. We know we can find a better way, a way that promotes freedom and democracy, peaceful coexistence, compassion and common decency."

Perry's daughter, Janine Guillet, a new member of the King birthday celebration committee, presented the annual Robertsine Duncan Award for youth service to Nicholas Fortson, recently retired president and CEO of CorePlus Credit Union. Under his leadership, the credit union established an annual internship for an NFA student.

Fortson listed several NFA student interns who rose to positions of importance and leadership within CorePlus. Along with the award, he received citations from Congress, the state General Assembly and the city of Norwich.

Fortson praised the students in the NAACP youth council for their leadership.

"I just think the youth council does a fantastic job with the youth in this community," Fortson said. "I've been in this town long enough to see some of you young people grow up and take a leadership role in this town, so this is definitely a wonderful organization."

c.bessette@theday.com