'A glimpse of King's dream'

Robbie Robinson knows some still obsess over the color of people's skin rather than the content of their characters.

But the minister from Christian Tabernacle Church in Roselle knows character trumps skin color, power or popularity.

"Matter of fact, if that governor character we have had some character, then maybe this state wouldn't be a laughing joke on 'Saturday Night Live,'" Robinson said.

That line drew chuckles Monday at Hoffman Estates' seventh annual King Community Breakfast, which honors the slain civil rights leader's legacy.

Monday's holiday had additional importance for many blacks in the audience on the eve of Barack Obama entering the Oval Office.

The event's theme was "Who said dreams don't come true?"

"I believe this is truly one of those dreams Martin Luther King talked about and that I'm sure he's watching down from heaven and smiling," said Pearl Henderson, head of the Hoffman Estates cultural awareness commission.

Some in the crowd - who dined on pancakes and other fare prepared by Hoffman Estates firefighters - wore Obama T-shirts.

The Sears Holding Associate Gospel Choir even added his name to a few songs they performed.

But for all the clamor linking King Day to the inauguration for the country's first black president, Henderson was still concerned that King's accomplishments were not overshadowed.

For instance, when officials from the Schaumburg Township District Library offered to bring wristbands packaged with a card adorned with Obama's photograph, Henderson would agree to the gesture only if the library would also bring something celebrating King.

Library officials ended up bringing decorative ribbons honoring King.

The holiday isn't just for blacks. The Rev. Allen Eaton, senior chaplain of the Northwest Corridor Chaplaincy Service, has been a regular at the breakfast through the years. Eaton, who is white, said King's dream of racial equality still hasn't come into full fruition.

But he remains hopeful.

"(Today), we get to see another glimpse of that dream, and we get to imagine what the dream's going to like when we get to elect our first Indian president, when we get to elect our first Chinese president, when we get to elect our next African-American president," Eaton said.

Robinson also noted that his wife, Letitia, wasn't in Hoffman Estates on Monday. She left Friday for Washington, D.C.

"If you want to see where I rank compared to Barack Obama," Robinson joked, "we know how that worked out."