“Darkness cannot drive
out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can
do that.”
— Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The
above oft-cited quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. resonated with the
hundreds of MTSU students and others gathered inside Keathley University
Theater to again pay tribute to the legacy left by the slain civil rights
activist and his late wife, Coretta Scott King.
“Show
love. It’s all about love, not hate,” said Melina Datta, a sophomore public
relations major from Memphis. “You can’t overcome the obstacles without love.”
Presented
by the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity and the MTSU Office of Intercultural and
Diversity Affairs, the celebration and candlelight vigil in observance of
Martin Luther King Jr. Day drew a diverse crowd of hundreds of students —
including many representatives from student organizations — as well as some
faculty, staff.
Daniel
Green, the new director of the Office of Intercultural and Diversity Affairs,
told the crowd that Monday night’s celebration honored a man “who brought hope
and healing to America.”
The
Baptist minister and leader of the civil rights movement was struck down by an
assassin’s bullet on April 4, 1968, while in Memphis, Tennessee, in support of
a sanitation worker’s strike.
King’s
actual birthday was Jan. 15, 1929. In 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed into
law a bill to create an official federal holiday honoring King, and in 1992,
President George H.W. Bush declared that the holiday would be observed on the
third Monday in January each year.
“On this
day we commemorate the values that he taught us, the values that he left behind
for us to embrace,” Green said. “Values of trust, courage, hope and compassion
that defined his character and embodied what Dr. King stood for.
“… We
have to remember that we’re all on the same boat. If one part of that boat goes
down, then all of it goes down.”
Kicking
off the event was a touching a cappella performance of “Glory, Glory
Hallelujah” by the MTSU Generation of Praise Gospel Choir.
Other
performances included: a musical tribute by saxophonist Don Aliquo, an MTSU
professor of jazz studies; a musical/multimedia tribute to Coretta Scott King
by MTSU music education major David Wyatt; a spoken word tribute by MTSU
psychology major Trevor Johnson; and an MLK multimedia presentation followed by
a candlelight vigil on the KUC knoll coordinated by the Kappa Xi Chapter of
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc.
In
giving the keynote address, Bishop Chris Johnson, founder of Zion Christian
Ministries in Murfreesboro, sprinkled heavy doses of Scripture with his message
highlighting three key components of King’s philosophy: love, unity and hope.
“Part of
his legacy, if lived out, would be you and I walking out that love and
demonstrating that love across our cities, across our communities and across
this campus, the kind of love that allows us to sit and eat with someone that
doesn’t look like us,” Johnson said. “It is that kind of love that allows us to
talk to someone that we wouldn’t normally talk to.”
Brian
Marshall, historian for the local Omicron Sigma Lambda chapter of Alpha Phi
Alpha, noted that King was an Alpha Phi Alpha member who fraternity members
often refer to as “brother.”
“Those
same things that our organization believes and stands for are the exact same
things that Martin Luther King stood for,” he said. “He loved our dear
fraternity. When he went marching from Selma to Montgomery, Alpha Phi Alpha was
marching with him.”
The
program inside the KUC theater ended with Green leading all attendees in
reciting the True Blue Pledge, before the crowd braved the frigid temperatures
and gathered for the candlelight vigil outside on the KUC Knoll.
Also
presenting the event was the MTSU Center for Student Involvement and
Leadership. Green also thanked Housing and Residential Life for creating an MLK
video that was played during the event.
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