Pursuing 'the dream': At MLK concert, Pitt official urges Johnstown's youth to dream big

Jan. 15—JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — As James Martin delivered a keynote address on Sunday in Johnstown about the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "dream," he often looked toward the youngest members of the crowd — a group of Black children.

Especially in impoverished communities such as Johnstown and the depressed South Carolina textile town in which Martin was raised, it can be too easy to lose sight of the fact that potential and opportunity are everywhere, said Martin, the vice chancellor for STEM research and innovation at the University of Pittsburgh.

"A lot of times, we hear that it's a lack of resources ... that keeps people from reaching their potential," Martin said, "but oftentimes, it's a lack of imagination."

Martin spoke to the crowd as the great-grandson of slaves, he said, adding that his parents worked to lift his family out of poverty to become successful and influential.

Johnstown's youth of today are also part of America's future, emboldened by King's dream, he said — it's just a matter of a willingness to pursue their own dreams and some positive intervention.

Martin is part of a University of Pittsburgh effort to "plant seeds" to help that generation grow, he said, through STEM-related collaborations with Johnstown's Flood City Youth Fitness Academy and a separate multi-million-dollar Pitt-Johnstown entrepreneurship center being planned inside downtown Johnstown's Jupiter Building.

"When you start to dream, like Dr. King did, you start to change," he said, noting that that can have a community-wide impact. "This is a community that led the industrial age before, and you can do it again."

Sunday's event, held at Greater Johnstown High School's Cochran Auditorium, was part of an evolving annual remembrance ceremony for King in Johnstown ahead of Monday's federal holiday honoring the civil rights leader.

Over the years, the equality-focused event has introduced new ways to bring the community together, including the "A Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr." concert that paired the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra and the Greater Johnstown Community Choir for a performance using music to unite the community.

The symphony and a guest soloist, Indiana University of Pennsylvania piano professor Henry Wong Doe, chose selections that blended classical work by Black composers who were often inspired by the culture's "spiritual" roots, JSO Music Director James Blachly said.

This was the second year in which the orchestra performed during the event.

"These are messages the community needs to hear," NAACP Johnstown President Alan Cashaw said, hopeful that the symphony's performance and Martin's words would "inspire" today's generation to rethink what they should accept as possible.

"This is all about positive change," he said. "It's about planting a seed ... and not being afraid to dream."