By Luis Rodriguez
Staff Writer
In celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, students and faculty came together to bear witness to society’s imperfections.
The walk began at the Thomas Merton Center and ended at the University Chapel. Students paused along the candlelit path to listen to short speeches by fellow students and faculty as they walked to the chapel.
“I loved the speech that Nairee Tavares gave. It really spoke to me as a female,” sophomore elementary education major Ashley Jordan said.
Taverez spoke of females wearing makeup to cover up their flaws because of what other people say.
With each speech, Sean Conklin, assistant curator at the Quick Center for the Arts, displayed his artwork to relate to six different imperfections of society: privilege, poverty, body image, gay rights, immigration and civil liberty.
Conklin captured the current struggles of society with a portrait of Michael Brown, an African-American teenager who was killed by a police officer, as well as other images including a self-reflecting mirror, a homeless man and a woman shackled by a golden chain.
“Sean captured the struggles that we have to deal with [in] his artwork. There is not a day where I don’t see those problems around me,” sophomore sociology major April Luna said.
The final stop of the walk was the university chapel where guest speaker Jeff Carter, pastor of Ephesus Ministries in Buffalo, spoke about his encounters with inequality and what he would have asked Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. if given the chance.
“If Dr. Martin Luther King was here right now, I would ask him, ‘How does the view from the mountain top look now?’” Pastor Jeff said.
Society has changed since the passing of Martin Luther King Jr., but Pastor Jeff believes that the view from the top of the mountain remains the same.
“In order to see the view from the other side of the mountain, you must look at the path you took to get to the top,” Carter said.
Students wished peace to each other, and Father Francis Di Spigno, OFM., encouraged students to stay and eat cookies and brownies and to interact with their classmates and faculty.
“It was nice to hear something different besides students complaining about having class on MLK day,” sophomore sociology major Jalen Gethers said.
Pastor Jeff believes the importance of MLK day is to celebrate the progress of civil justice, as well as realizing what work still needs to be done. Even though Martin Luther King is gone, his dreams still live on.
