***
Since the start of the year, Mr. Moore has made more than 30 appearances to portray King. In the past week, he was at Nellie Stokes Elementary in Camden and St. Johns Lutheran School in Dover. At St. John’s, the students range in ages from 4 to 14. “The little guys are just as intrigued as the 14-year-olds,” said Dina Vendetti, principal of St. John’s. “He lifts his enthusiasm and it’s contagious. Everybody can relate to having a dream. “Sometimes I look over in chapel time and there are kids spinning around on their carpet square instead of paying attention. That never happens when John is there. They’re all in, so intrigued.” He said he enjoys sharing the DREAM, an acronym that helps him get across a message to kids. DREAM represents dedication, resiliency, enthusiasm, attitude and motivation. “I tell them that they can be DREAM achievers,” said Mr. Moore. “No matter where you come from, no matter the color of your skin, no matter what your economic situation is, if you believe in yourself, you can make your dreams become a reality.” https://youtu.be/u_8EXLTnMqs Mr. Moore said when he visits youth detention centers he shares his own stories. He grew up in Strawberry Mansion, a tough area of inner city Philadelphia where there were gangs and his brothers were drawn into trouble. “That’s where the word ‘resilient’ means a lot,” he said. “Instead of coming up with excuses, I was fortunate enough to have several people who became my mentors and spiritually Dr. Martin Luther King became one of those mentors. “I felt hope through his words,” he said. He went on to attain college degrees, spent 20 years in the military and now serves as a vice president for United Way of Delaware. He also serves as a youth minister for Calvary Baptist Church in Dover. https://youtu.be/oYp-5K-Wkp4 “If I can achieve that from the humble beginnings I came from, there’s nothing that’s stopping you,” he said of his message to troubled kids. “You can achieve anything. Because I’m so transparent in that story, the young people believe it and they find it relevant. They say, ‘You know what, I’m going to stop making excuses. If Dr. Moore can work that hard and make his dreams come true, then I can do the same thing.’”***
Mr. Moore said he enjoys the results of his visits with students, sharing the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist minister who advanced civil rights with nonviolent civil disobedience. “Through my presentations, history comes alive for them,” he said. “They become curious and they want to know more. “Even in 2017, children will ask questions about the bus boycott (in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955) and the March on Washington,” he said. “Those things are still very important to them.” https://youtu.be/6EAgMbSJBTM Mr. Moore said the messages remain relevant today. “Many of the things were dealing with in 2017 were very similar to what we dealt with in the Fifties and Sixties,” he said. “As he went around, he talked about discrimination, he talked about segregation, he talked about equality. We’re still dealing with a lot of those issues today. We want to make sure our children all have a great opportunity for an education, people have a chance to get jobs, and families are secure.”***
Even though he has been delivering King speeches for about 26 years now, Mr. Moore said he still practices regularly. If you pass him on the highway, you’re likely to see him rehearsing the “Drum Major Instinct” or “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” in triple time. https://youtu.be/BaNVGrz5llk Time, though, has led him to see his work differently. “You would think that after a while, it gets a little trite because you’ve done it so often,” Mr. Moore said. “Even with the audiences, many of them have heard me four or five times, but it’s very spiritual. “It’s almost at this point in my life that his spirit is coming out of me. I really felt that at a presentation just recently. When I was giving it and the words were coming out, I felt like it really wasn’t me talking. “It was Dr. King talking.” https://youtu.be/0OMza33wZLk The baritone voice and the cadence and rhythm of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. certainly come through. “He’s a very spiritual man himself and has a really strong faith,” said Ms. Vendetti of the Rev. Moore. “The message that he’s getting across is more than just appropriate behavior in terms of civil rights. It really strikes at the moral core of who we are as God’s people. “When he gets into that mode, it really connects. It’s more than just a fabulous presentation, it’s a spiritual experience.” The finale, of course, isn’t lost on Mr. Moore. He mimics King’s style of phrase repetition into the crescendo. “…and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: “Free at last! Free at last! "Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
Polytech High School broadcast media students Torie Seagraves, left, and Maureen Iplenski review a video of the Rev. John G. Moore Sr. in the school's studio.
