Church of Scientology Community Center of South Los Angeles Hosts World Literacy Crusade 20th Anniversary Event

Community and religious leaders gathered at the Church of Scientology Community Center at 81st and Vermont in South L.A. January 21 to pay tribute to Rev. Martin Luther King and commemorate the 20th anniversary of the World Literacy Crusade.

Held in the Community Center’s L. Ron Hubbard Auditorium, the event, which included live performances by local youth and recitations and videos of the speeches of Dr. King, focused on the future—bringing about the dream Dr. King envisioned through handling the underlying causes of social ills.

The World Literacy Crusade was born in the aftermath of community unrest in greater Los Angeles in 1992. Rev. Alfreddie Johnson, pastor of True Faith Christian Church, a Baptist congregation in Compton, California, intensified his search for solutions to the underlying problems. When Fred Shaw Jr., President of the Compton Branch of the NAACP, introduced him to Applied Scholastics and the Study Technology of L. Ron Hubbard, Rev. Johnson recognized this as the key to accomplishing his goals for the community. Johnson and Shaw created the program and the late Isaac Hayes became its international spokesperson.

Johnson saw clearly that social ills such as poverty, drug abuse, crime and gang violence were not the primary cause of Compton’s hopelessness and anger—the most important factor was illiteracy.

“We are helping to make responsible human beings who have the ability to learn and communicate,” said Rev. Johnson. “We are creating an army of tutor/mentors who are armed with effective learning technology that transforms the cruel realities of today into happy and prosperous realities of tomorrow.”

The event began with Tamara Weldon performing the Lord’s Prayer, followed by the Church Of Scientology Choir performing “Lift every Voice” and “Wade in the Water,” accompanied by dancers from Washington Preparatory High School Performing Arts Department. Rev. Johnson showed a video of Dr. King’s famous speech—“I have a Dream,” and spoke of Dr. King’s courage and the mission of the World Literacy Crusade.

Directing the event was Dr. Melanie Andrews, teacher at Washington Preparatory High School, California Educational Theatre Association’s teacher of the year for 2011, and head of World Literacy Crusade’s performing arts department.

Today, the World Literacy Crusade operates programs in local schools, tutoring centers andjuvenile detention facilities. Using study and drug rehabilitation methodologies developed by L. Ron Hubbard, it has grown to an international movement, with volunteers operating in Canada, Australia, Greece and Africa.

The Church of Scientology Community Center at 81st and Vermont in South L.A. is open 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

For more information on the Church of Scientology visit www.Scientology.org.

The Scientology religion was founded by author and philosopher L. Ron Hubbard. The first Church of Scientology was formed in the United States in 1954 and has today expanded to more than 10,000 Churches, Missions and affiliated groups, with millions of members in 167 nations.