Ceremony Marks MLK Day

Kuumba singers marched down the aisles of Memorial Church on Monday, soulfully greeting the multicultural audience gathered for a commemoration of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Unlike in years past, leaders of seven different religious and ethnic campus groups were invited to speak about the meaning of Martin Luther King Day in the context of their own cultural concerns.

“The idea is to involve a portion of the Harvard community that in the past has not been involved,” said Om L. Lala ’06, the chair of the Harvard College Interfaith Council, which co-sponsored the event. “His message has a universal application. It in fact applies to everyone.”

During his speech at the 90-minute service, Lala pointed out that there was a diverse group in attendance. But he emphasized that “ultimately we are all human” which he said was King’s message. “He wanted us to see the world through our neighbor’s eyes,” Lala said.

Sanby Lee ’08, co-president of the Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Association (AAA), stressed the importance of King’s message to Asian Americans.

“Injustice and inequality affect everyone,” she said, citing the large gap between the rich and poor in her community. “We must unify what is a fragmented Asian American community.”

Khalid M. Yasin ’07, president of the Harvard Islamic Society, said the fight for civil rights is not over, especially for Muslim Americans.

But Tulita M. Papke ’06 said she thought that the ceremony may have focused too much on King’s political legacy and not enough on his religious influence.

“As a Christian, it was good to hear the faith of Martin Luther King come up,” Papke said. “But it could have come up more.”

State Representative Byron Rushing ’64, D-Boston, the keynote speaker, encouraged the audience to take inspiration and action .

“Get someone in America to call you a dangerous Negro,” Rushing challenged the audience after stating that officials in U.S. government feared King and referred to him as such. “Who in America is afraid of what you are doing? It is time for all of you to become dangerous Negros...Who at Harvard wants to expunge you from the record?”

Rushing spoke against the war in Iraq and called for social action on issues such as homelessness, healthcare, and gay marriage.

“We come to commemorate all who struggled for justice and freedom, we come to commemorate all who are true to their faith,” he said. “Hopefully we have come to commemorate ourselves.”

Rushing said he was not originally in favor of a Martin Luther King Day because he feared it would cheapen the meaning of King’s message.

“We want to save Martin Luther King from becoming an American hero,” Rushing said, arguing that it is easy to build statues in honor of dead heroes, but much harder to carry on their dreams with real action.

Lumumba B. Seegars ’09, who read an excerpt from King’s “I See the Promised Land,” said he wants to see the issues of multicultural dialogue being discussed more often than one day a year.

Student speakers spoke on behalf of the AAA, the Harvard South Asian Association, Native Americans at Harvard College, Progressive Jewish Alliance at Harvard, Harvard Association Cultivating Inter-American, and the Black Students’ Association.

“Normalcy is the real enemy,” Natasha S. Alford ’08 told the audience. “Let us fight it with all our might and in this way we will change the world forever.”

—Staff writer Shifra B. Mincer can be reached at smincer@fas.harvard.edu.