22nd Annual MLK Unity Ball performance calls for change
Two performers stood on stage overlooking an audience. They had no props, only 60 minutes of memorized dialogue and a historical message to send.
Students, faculty, and community members gathered at the 22nd annual Unity Ball in the Bovee University Center on Saturday to finish off a week of celebration for Martin Luther King Jr. with a dinner, play and dancing.
“(The Unity Ball) is a time for our campus and community to come together and have a little fun at the end of the week,” said D’Wayne Jenkins, assistant director of the Multicultural Academic Student Services. “(It's) also to keep Dr. King’s memory alive.”
From race riots to the struggle for desegregation and the civil rights movement, the featured play--"Soul of a Nation," written by Colin Cox and performed by Anthony Bryce Graham, and Yolanda Sanders--detailed the accomplishments and hardships of African-American men and women in the past 50 years.
The play also confronted issues in the present day, including stereotypes of black men and women, rape culture, dehumanization, police correction, poverty and abuse. Showing how far America still has to go, the play's ultimate challenge was for viewers to decide if they want to change society for the better, or if racial issues will still exist 50 years from now.
According to the play, change starts with admitting that there are problems that need changing.
"Better (circumstances) will come when we admit there is better to come," Graham said.
Audience member John Dinse, a retired CMU political science professor, said he liked how focused the play was on history.
Those in attendance also dressed up for dinner and dancing. Saginaw sophomore Arielle Buckley said she and her sister freshman Andrea Buckley came to the unity ball to support the finale of Martin Luther King Jr. week and everything he stood for.
“If you can look around, there are people from all different cultures here, and that’s what its all about,” said Jenkins. “The unification of the campus and the Mount Pleasant community.”
