Matt Bellassai
Public Relations Vice President, Associated Student Government
We don’t celebrate any holiday quite like MLK Day here at Northwestern.
And while we certainly wouldn’t question a day without classes, we might wonder why exactly we put such significance on this particular day. Why celebrate Dr. King?
If we take a close look at why we’re all Northwestern students in the first place, why we chose this incredible university, and why we continue to contribute to this community, we see the answer plain and simple. Northwestern is about something greater, and MLK embodied that spirit more than anything. His commitment to service and his dedication to a purpose larger than himself cuts right to the core of what NU stands for: We believe in a better community – a better Northwestern – and we’re always striving for improvement, for change, for progress.
Emblazed in the Northwestern University seal is a Latin phrase, Quaecumque sunt vera. It’s part of a larger passage, which reads, “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virTuesday, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
What it’s really urging us to do is to focus on what matters. Life is complicated, and things aren’t always easy. So focus on the truth, on honesty, on love and on goodness.
That’s what MLK Day is all about, and that’s why we put so much significance on celebrating the legacy of Dr. King at Northwestern. It’s why ASG, years ago, lobbied to have Monday as a day of service in his honor. Because, like MLK, we believe in growth, we believe in movement, we believe in action.
The great Jewish leader Hillel is credited as saying “If not us, then who? If not now, then when?” And this, again, is the spirit of Dr. King and the spirit of Northwestern. We celebrate MLK Day because we believe in a better Northwestern, and we believe in fighting to see that ideal come true.
Matt Bellassai is a Medill junior. He can be reached at [email protected].
Pamela Pirtle
Director, Office of Equal Opportunity and Access
In the years since Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s, “I Have A Dream” speech, the demographics in America have significantly changed. Though we live in a different America today, the message of Dr. King continues to resonate. Changes in our society have and will shape how we perceive ourselves and those around us.
Dr. King’s message of hope, unity and freedom for all speaks to the core of diversity efforts today. He believed one day, all men and women would be free, as reflected in the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal.”
Dr. King advocated diversity long before the term was widely used. His work to end discrimination created the legacy of a life that embraced the principles of diversity.
Some may suggest Dr. King was ahead of his time. He knew the value of diversity/inclusion and its benefits. His efforts did more than benefit a single group of persons. All Americans benefit when the characteristics which define us as individuals are accepted and valued.
From the riots, protests and marches he organized grew laws and legislation that were created to provide equal access and opportunity for everyone. Is this his dream realized? In some ways it may be, but the work continues as we define who we are and our individual places in society.
Is Dr. King’s message still relevant more than 40 years after his death? I believe it is. The basic framework established by Dr. King forms the foundation for the work we are engaged in today.
Pamela Pirtle can be reached at [email protected].
Tajudeen Sanusi
Northwestern’s Chapter President, Alpha Phi Alpha
Martin Luther King Day is very near and dear to me. I feel like it’s not only a time to celebrate Dr. King but also a time to reflect on how far we have come from the past and how much further we still need to go. People must realize that it is not just the major figures like King that make large changes happen. It is the smaller figures behind the scenes being unsung heroes and providing the heartbeat of revolution.
This inspires me because just like many of these people who helped change the country for the betterment of my race, I am a seemingly average person. But my actions and the way I go about my daily life could have greater effects than I could ever imagine, and this is why I try to give back to the less fortunate. I feel that Dr. King would agree that giving back is extremely important now because we have achieved many equal rights, but there are still enormous strides that could be made in other areas that affect underrepresented groups like the school systems, healthcare, etc. I hope that instead of people just seeing it as an extra day out of school, they actually go out and help someone who is less fortunate than them. This is what the day’s purpose is, and it is a way to carry on and spread Dr. King’s Legacy.
Tajudeen Sanusi is a McCormick junior. He can be reached at [email protected].
Beth Lynk
Northwestern’s Chapter President, Delta Sigma Theta
Martin was a man with a plan,” was the answer one smart Evanston 4th grader gave when I asked what Martin Luther King Day meant to him. I spent my MLK Day as a mentor for the Eva Jefferson Patterson Program. Our mandate is to help 40 Evanston elementary and middle school students understand “the true meaning” of MLK Day.
Easy enough, right? Well, I heard many different ideas of the “true meaning” of MLK Day, but what resonated with me the most was the idea that Dr. King taught us to care about and be responsible for each other. This got me thinking about how we use his lessons here at Northwestern. In a campus that is often divided, MLK Day should serve as a catalyst to free ourselves from our boundaries of comfort and unite so that we may be better students, leaders and human beings.
Yes, the Nobel Peace Prize winner indeed taught us to care for each other and ultimately brought a nation that had been driven apart by hate together with love. Dr. King was a catalyst in his time. But how is this applicable today?
Let’s look at NU, a school of subgroups. These subgroups provide a rich student life to those a part of those groups. However, in the past when peers in another group have threatened others on this campus (i.e. Chabad House Menorah, Muhammad stick figures, the black face incident, and so on), many turn away if they can. We become so uncomfortable that we have a tendency to retreat into our own comfortable community.
But as one larger NU community and ultimately in a global sense, the human race, we have a responsibility to each other, to support and to care for each other. I think student leaders often focus too much on how broad and profound life lessons can “improve our student experience.” That is not why I am proposing this mass “branch out.” I argue that by “practicing” Dr. King’s philosophy in the safety of our NU community, we will not only improve life on campus but our “life experience” in the long run.
In a few years, when we leave NU’s bubble, vandalism of a menorah could be a bombing of a synagogue, and a blackface incident could become racial stereotyping which prevents a black job applicant from getting the job.
Today, Tavis Smiley said, “You cannot lead people unless you love people and you cannot save people unless you serve people.” In our larger NU community we have to love and serve each other regardless of what group we are in.
By reflecting on Dr. King’s legacy we should challenge ourselves go outside of our comfort zone and connect with those different from ourselves. By doing
that, we will foster a sense of responsibility in our community. Dr. King said, “All I’m saying is simply this: that all life is interrelated, that somehow we’re caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.”
Beth Lynk is a Communication senior. She can be reached at [email protected].
Josh West
Northwestern’s Chapter President, Kappa Alpha Psi
Each and every day, I stand on the shoulders of giants. I am reminded of that every time I wake up and leave my home without the fear of being attacked, ridiculed or discriminated against for the color of my skin. It was giants such as A. Phillip Randolph, W.E.B. Dubois and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who made this possible, which is why I pay tribute to them knowingly or unknowingly. I also pay tribute to those whose names didn’t make headlines. To those who lived through the struggle and vowed to create a change so future generations could live without fear.
MLK Day is about recognizing these giants, and Dr. King above all, a man who I believe is one of our nation’s greatest Americans. It was men like Dr. King who had an unswerving mission to truly make the world a better place. And although he did not live to see the fulfillment of his dream, his dream lives on each day through all of us.
However, we must use this day to refocus, for King’s is not 100 percent complete. Black college graduation rates still stand at a dismal 42 percent, 20 percent lower than that of white students. The drug trade has a vice grip on our communities. According to the Sentencing Project, one in eight black males in their 20s are in prison or jail, and one in three black males born today are expected to end up there. What would King say about these numbers today?
As we move forward, we must realize that King’s dream came true, but it is far from complete. We must refocus our attention to social activism to ensure that more black men end up in colleges and universities, not in prison jump suits. We must ensure that all Americans receive affordable health care and that the appalling income gap between the rich and poor is reduced. Most importantly, we must continue to dream as King once did and find the courage and strength within to ensure our dreams come true.
Josh West is a Weinberg senior. He can be reached at [email protected].
Breajna Dawkins
Editor in chief, BlackBoard magazine
Martin Luther King Day has always been a source of pride for me. Growing up, my mother made sure I knew my black history as well or even better than I knew the history I learned everyday in school.
At a young age, it was sometimes an arduous task. Keeping Dr. Charles Drew straight from Ralph J. Bunche was hard for an eight-year-old, but I will never forget what my mother told me one day during one of our study sessions.
“Learning about these men and women is a small price to pay. Imagine being them! Do you have the courage? You should thank God every day for the opportunities that they afforded you. Without these brave men and women, your world would not exist.”
I remember MLK Day in first grade. We watched his whole “I Have a Dream” speech in class. I’ll never forget this one boy who turned around every few minutes to look first at me and then at the screen. He did it so much the teacher told him to stop. At first, it hurt me. I didn’t understand why he wanted to look at me. I thought we were friends. What had I done wrong? I wanted to crawl under my desk and hide.
But then I remembered what my mother told me, and my embarrassment turned to pride. Here I was, black like Martin. Martin had a dream; therefore, I could have one too! He was the reason I even got to be the only black kid in that classroom or the only one on my block, in peace. I remembered that, and I ceased to feel ashamed.
King is one of the most celebrated black historical figures because he had the courage to stand up for what he believed in and what he thought was right. To me, MLK Day is a gift. It is a gift that lets me walk down the streets of Dallas, Texas, without being afraid. It’s a gift that allowed me the chance to attend Northwestern University. It’s a gift will allow me to get a job at wherever I deserve to work because I am good at what I do.
The ideals that Dr. King stood for are not just for black people; the injustice of his time hurt each man, woman and child equally, regardless of their ethnicity. He taught us all to love those who persecute us, that non-violence is the way to combat injustice. He taught the world to care for others, to take a stand and work for peace.
However, we all must remember that there were many who paved the way for Martin and many who were his contemporaries and many that have and will come after him to further his cause. I take pride in MLK Day because I want to be one who makes a difference in society for black men and women all over the world. I want to help continue the teachings of equality that he began. I want to make my pride for him and my blackness known. Because without this continued effort, without his pride and resolve that each of us can carry on, all of his work will have been in vain.
Breajna Dawkins is a Medill junior. She can be reached at [email protected].
