How Central Michigan carries on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy
Marchers
The air was filled with conversation as hundreds of people came together and shared a meal.
Attendees listen to opening remarks from Executive Director of the Center for Inclusion & Diversity Dr. Traci Guinn Jan. 20 at Finch Fieldhouse.
In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the CommUnity Peace Brunch was held in Finch Fieldhouse at 9:30 a.m., Monday. It began an entire week of activities and events that celebrate the heroic civil rights leader.
Among the crowd were many generations. Parents brought their children. High school students had come from Detroit. There were current CMU students, as well as alumni.
Nathanael Pappas, a freshman from Indianapolis, Indiana, had his first experience of Martin Luther King Jr. Day at Central Michigan University.
“I’m here because it was a required event for my Multicultural Advancement Scholarship,” Pappas said. “The MAC scholarship is a scholarship you can get for showing a passion for representing underrepresented groups in society.”
He was most excited for the CommUnity Peace March and Vigil that started at 3 p.m. later that day.
Lester Booker Jr., an alumni from Detroit, said he enjoys coming back every year to participate.
“It’s a homecoming for me,” Booker Jr. said. “I get to see all the leaders and new students, and that the legacy is still here and driving forward through the new generation on campus."
President Bob Davies welcomes high school students at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. CommUnity Peace Brunch, Finch Fieldhouse, January 20.
King shared a message of peace, unity, and justice with the world. The brunch is an example of his message, his dream, becoming a reality.
“If you just look around this room, you’ll see so many different individuals,” said Dr. Traci L. Guinn Buckley, executive director of the Center for Inclusion and Diversity, Multicultural Academic Student Services. “You see so many different people are engaging and learning about one another, sitting and conversing together, just having a wonderful time. That’s exactly what Dr. King would have wanted to see. The unity amongst diversity in this room.”
During her introductory speech, Buckley said that the honoring of King had originally started as something that Central Michigan would try for a few years on a trial-basis.
Twenty years later, it is still going strong.
Following Buckley, President Bob Davies took the stage and addressed the room.
“We’re not just celebrating his bio,” Davies said. “When we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. today, we’re not just celebrating historical dates. We are truly celebrating a legacy that was created by his thoughts, by his actions, by his words. And most importantly, how he impacts people today.”
The CommUnity March
The singing and clapping grew louder as more people joined in.
“I’m going to let it shine,” the marchers sang. “Let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine.”
Leading the group through the streets into downtown Mount Pleasant were marchers holding a banner of King and the American flag. At the bottom it read: Yesterday’s dream is tomorrow’s reality.
Police helped safely guide the procession to its destination at the corner of Main Street and Broadway, where the Korean War Memorial is located.
A small stage had been set-up there. All the marchers gathered on the snow-covered ground, their breath visible.
Three members of Christ Central Choir performed a cappella beneath the barren, icy trees, as the audience huddled closer.
Then Farmington, Michigan senior Caitlin Crutcher told a story about performing in an orchestra when she was younger. She remembered the way that it felt to contribute to what the others were playing. It was her voice uniting with theirs, becoming something powerful.
Crutcher asked everybody to look at the faces around them. They were all a part of their own orchestra – a community.
Graduate assistant Julio Velasco addresses crowd at the CommUnity Peace March, Korean War Memorial, Main Street and Broadway, downtown Mount Pleasant, January 20.
Julio Velasco, graduate assistant with the Center for Inclusion and Diversity, wrapped-up the event with a short keynote speech.
“Through community, we can do anything,” Velasco said.
This campus is home to a diverse community. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s message of peace, unity and justice, is the foundation that this community rests upon. The community is his legacy. It’s up to each successive generation to take on the responsibility of maintaining and building what King started more than half a century ago.
