Students Reflect, Share Thoughts on Dr. King By Barrington M. Salmon WI Staff Writer
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lthough the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. represented the face of the Civil Rights movement, the effort to reverse generations of racism and discrimination was powered primarily by young people. Black and white children, those in high school and college students from all across the social spectrum chose different vehicles to express their desire for change. Whether it was with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Student Non-Violent Coordinat-
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ing Committee (SNCC), the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE), with churches, civic or social groups, they heeded the calls for change. Students, the foot soldiers, spread out across the South sitting in at lunch counters, marching in vast numbers against injustice and intolerance, boarding buses as Freedom Riders, registering people to vote, and questioning authority at every turn. They worked for economic and political self-sufficiency, demanded racial equality and sought freedom from oppression through civil resistance and non-violent protest. Despite being beaten, brutal-
ized and intimidated by the brutish forces of the segregationists, they refused to move back or step down. Diane Nash, Stokely Carmichael, John Lewis, Marion Barry, Jesse Jackson, Andrew Young, Ella Baker and other lesser -known young people were the strategists and catalysts for the movement. Decades after the height of the Civil Rights movement, 43 years after King’s death and 26 years after efforts began to erect a memorial, the nation is poised to honor the Civil Rights icon. Hundreds of thousands of citizens are expected to gather on the National Mall in Northwest on August 28
to unveil the 30-foot statue. The Washington Informer spoke to students from the University of the District of Columbia who reflected on what the unveiling of the King Memorial means to them. “I think that the Martin Luther King memorial is an American memorial, and not just an African-American (one). It applies to whites, blacks, Hispanics and Asians,” said Michael Lea, a 29-year-old law student from Orange County, Calif. “It’s a legacy for civil rights which is really an American inheritance for everybody. It’s all inclusive. Martin Luther King’s aim was to tie people together at a time when people
were legally separated. So, to bring so many different cultures and ethnicities into the construction of the memorial is really positive.” Morgane Dantier, a French national who is studying Information Technology, said the memorial reflects the multicultural nature of the United States. “It’s a great way to showcase all of the different faces that are in America today,” she said. “Martin Luther King would be very proud of it. Although he is not with us anymore, we should keep working towards his idea
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Celebrating the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial - The Washington Informer Special Issue / august 2011
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