Photos by Reuben Crisler
On Monday, Anderson University held its annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration. This is done yearly to commemorate and celebrate activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and remember his message of advocating for civil rights. The AU community feels that it is important to advocate for the cause of diversity and inclusion in our daily lives.
The students were greeted by Brian “B” Martin, the Dean of the Center for Spiritual and Intercultural Life, along with other staff, to a freshly made breakfast. During that morning, they watched excerpts of the “I Have A Dream” speech and listened to Martin afterwards, further relaying the speech of King’s message. During the opening prayer, there was a lot of reflection and appreciation. B Martin said, “We recognize not everyone gets to wake up this morning. I saw a rainbow this morning that showed faithfulness.” President Scott Moats welcomed students and helped to continue to spread the message and faith and positivity through a welcoming speech.
Every year Anderson University has a different theme to remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The theme this year was: “Dream Again.” This message was to reiterate that people can choose to remember that it is a new day and that they can “Dream Again.” It is easy for people to go on with their lives, especially on a day like Monday because schools got the day off to remember King and what he stood for. It is not just about remembering and recognizing the dream, but living it.
We meet different types of people every day; people with different ethnicities, religions, backgrounds, and cultural heritages. Dr. Martin Luther King dreamt of a society where everyone can live as one and be free to be who they want to be. The City of Anderson lives the dream every year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day by hosting an annual celebration in downtown Anderson. Students, as well as people in the Anderson community, came together at the Paramount Theatre to further celebrate the dream. At the theatre, the committee organized something that had not been done in previous years. A short play, Dr. MLK Day: Mini King Production reflected Dr. King’s home life in spectacular ways, showcasing it through family, faith, love, honor, knowledge, and an everlasting call for action and justice. Through this production, people were able to visualize King’s life in a way that hadn’t been done before that was inspiring and innovative.
The play was a creative way of remembering King and his life. This was done through displaying King’s wife Coretta’s sorrows and their own marital tribulations. There were hardships that came with being an influential figure in history. Not only was it difficult being a man fighting for this type of justice, it was also more difficult because King had a young family who he had to fight for at the same time. It told a cohesive story also through music and emotion that then remembered King through a slideshow of important parts of his life.
Abigail Jeyakaran, a sophomore double majoring in multimedia journalism and biology when recalling about Martin Luther King’s dream said,
“I think that the gift that MLK brought to our society reminded us of the notion that we are all humans and we all deserve equal respect, dignity, rights, and the opportunity to thrive.” Even with busy schedules, we should still be able to make time for the things that we find important. King said things that are still remembered and relevant today. We hope that one day that his dream becomes a reality without strings attached or other discrepancies.
MLK Day is not just about remembering, but it is about changing for the future. Brian “B” Martin said, “I think that it’s important to remember this day every year because it’s easy to not be intentional and trying to learn different cultural perspectives helps us to learn new routines and focus on new topics. Without this, it becomes more difficult to be more intentional.” The dream is good to reflect on because it shows us what Jesus really cared about as well. Through King’s words and actions, Jesus did the same. B said, “ Martin Luther King Jr. took his dream from Jesus’s dream that we are one. Jesus prayed this and I think that Jesus was a servant and even though he was a rabbi, when he washed his disciples feet, he was a server. Service is important because if I only think of myself people are being left out.”
The celebrations continued late into the afternoon, leading into a lunch and a reflection with peers. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy continues year-after-year and now more than ever, the message is compelling and important. It’s not just about fighting against injustices from the past, but continuing the fight for the future. Being able to fulfill the legacy left behind to make a greater impact on the world today.