SMU President R. Gerald Turner and members of the student and faculty body participate in the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Unity Walk Wednesday.
Voices rang and hearts came together on Southern Methodist University’s campus Wednesday as students, faculty and staff from all around Dallas participated in the MLK Unity Walk.
The walk, a 20-year-old SMU tradition, began at the steps of Dallas Hall at noon, extended to the flagpole and ended in the Hughes-Trigg Student Center. All the while, members of the SMU Voices of Inspiration Gospel Choir sang songs of freedom such as “This Little Light of Mine” and “We Shall Overcome.”
The Unity Walk was followed by a remembrance ceremony that included a song from Christine Dino, individual reflections from students and staff, as well as, an address from President R. Gerald Turner. Student Activities and Multicultural Student Affairs representative Ke’Ana Bradley hosted the events.
“Thank you for helping us commemorate something that is so important to us,” she said. “Our freedom.”
Bradley and other speakers shared their own stories of doing service on MLK Day and personal interpretations of Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech. They reiterated the importance of seeing a bigger picture in King’s words and emphasized that he was motivating us to help others and to change the world by doing so.
Junior Nicholas Cains summarized the whole picture, saying the effort and feeling behind this American hero is summed up in one word: Love.
“What he was doing and what we’re doing, it’s not about color or discrimination,” Cains said. “If you can wake up every morning and say I’m free and I love, that’s what it’s all about.”
In his address, President Turner also stressed the importance of freedom and redefined the term. He said freedom is the power of choice and that education can provide a person with more opportunities.
“You have many more options to choose a career with an undergraduate degree than a high school diploma or even an eighth grade certificate,” he said. “Freedom is not a license. It’s having the ability to do what you want.”
Martin Luther King Jr. visited SMU and spoke to hundreds of students in 1966. Although students made up less than half of the attendance in 2010, many said they were inspired by the ceremony.
“The Civil Rights Movement was about hatred and being angry at what happened,” said freshman Beatrice Huang. “Freedom is to love and to make other people happy. I think that Dr. King just realized that he was done hating.”
MLK Week 2010 has two upcoming events. On Jan. 21 the Hughes-Trigg Varsity will host “The Trumpet Call: Faith in Action”, an interactive discussion about answering the call led by local interfaith leaders at noon. The last event of the week is the Unity Mixer, which will also be in Hughes-Trigg Varsity at 8 p.m. on Friday.
