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Dr. Geneva Craig recalls time spent with Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. Geneva Craig gives the keynote speech Sunday during the Medford City Celebration of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. at the Medford School District Auditorium. [PHOTO BY LARRY STAUTH JR] Sunday Jan 14, 2018 at 11:01 PM Ryan Pfeil Mail Tribune @RyanPfeil In March 1965, Dr. Geneva Craig was among a group of 600 or so nonviolent civil rights activists marching from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, the state capitol, when they endured a brutal attack by a mob of police.  Craig, now a registered nurse at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center, and her brother were marching to demand protections for voting rights for black people, but were stopped at the Edmund Pettus Bridge by a group of state troopers and local law enforcement. Often referred to as "Bloody Sunday," the group of police attacked the protesters with tear gas and clubs and drove them back. Dozens were injured. But it didn't break Craig's spirit. "The sound of those billy clubs smacking up against flesh, the screams of my fellow marchers, and my own retching from tear gas did not deter me from my commitment to make a difference in my life," Craig said Sunday in a speech in Central Medford High School's auditorium, where she was the keynote speaker at an event intended to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The event, emceed by DJ Gemineye, also featured videos and musical performances, including a rendition of U2's 'In the Name of Love' by Washington Elementary School choir students. In its second year, the gathering was put on by the Medford Multicultural Commission and the Medford School District. "(It's) a reminder of what a great man Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was," said event organizer Jen Esmay. Before meeting King and seeing him speak, Craig said she was an "angry teenager," due to racial discrimination she experienced and observed firsthand growing up in Selma. "I began to pay more and more attention to how we were treated by white people. I took note of the many restrictions that were placed upon us," she said. "You cannot go through the front door of an established restaurant, but you could cook in the kitchen. You could not get a drink of water from the humming water cooler that hold those cute little pointy cups. If you were thirsty, you used the dirty sink over in the corner. And more often than not, there were no restrooms for coloreds." "Can you understand how I became an angry teenager? Can you understand the source of my anger?" Dr. King attended meetings at churches, which is where Craig first saw him and other civil rights leaders speak and teach. She credits him with saving her life. "He added structure, guidance for how to make change in Selma, Alabama, and throughout the United States, really," Craig said. Months after the attack by police on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed. "Congress determined that the existing federal anti-discrimination laws were not sufficient to overcome the resistance by state officials to enforcement of the 15th Amendment," according to the U.S. Department of Justice website. Event attendee Angelica Mendoza said Craig's words and experiences resonated with her. "Everything she went through. She was part of it," she said. Craig never gave up on her dream of being a nurse, which she'd held since age 8, and became licensed in 1974. Forty-four years later, the lessons of Dr. King still ring true for her. "Read the philosophies of Dr. King and his theories," she said. "The nonviolent strategies that he came up with, they were very effective in our time. Violence is not the key." — Reach reporter Ryan Pfeil at 541-776-4468 or [email protected]. Follow him at www.twitter.com/ryanpfeil.