The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
2 — Wednesday, January 19, 2022
CAMPUS LIFE
At the foot of the Harlan
Hatcher Graduate Library, two
microphones were set up. A group
of students congregated around
a small table, serving themselves
hot chocolate, while clusters of
families and students began to
arrive.
For the past 16 years, the
Michigan Community Scholars
Program has honored the legacy
of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on
the namesake holiday with their
Circle of Unity celebration. The
event returned in person this
year, following last year’s virtual
installment.
The program began with a
performance
from
Michigan
natives Joe Reilly and Julie
Beutel, who sang a series of
songs, including Reilly’s own song
entitled ‘The Circle.’ Attendees
formed a large circle and were
encouraged to participate in a
sing-along to tunes inspiring
action and uplifting marginalized
groups.
William Alt, MCSP Community
Engagement Coordinator said the
event was very much student-led.
Many of the performances
featured students, including a
rendition of Taylor Swift and
Ed Sheeran’s “Everything Has
Changed,” which was performed
by Blue Records, a recording
group at the University of
Michigan.
LSA
sophomore
Sarah
Oguntomilade
followed
this
performance with a reading of her
poem,
“Enemies to Lovers,” which
explores the dual-edged nature of
history and how the reprehensible
actions of the past inform the
present day.
“Terribly horrible events have
created terribly beautiful realities,
and because of that, nothing is
black and white, everything is
in the grey,” Oguntomilade said.
“Through this lense, I share the
story of my life and how I’ve
gotten to this point, all while
using the metaphor of enemies to
lovers, my favorite literary genre.”
Oguntomilade
also
read
another original poem called “My
Name Is,” which Oguntomilade
said highlights her own life
journey with faith and how
faith connects with Dr. King’s
advocacy.
“‘My Name Is’ also describes
my life and my story, however this
time through the lense of faith,”
Ogutomilade said. “I recognize
that the faith that brought great
pain in the past is the same faith
that drove Reverend Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. in his activism
and his peace movements.”
LSA
sophomore
Leilani
Fonseca then spoke briefly about
the impact she has been able to
create as a peer mentor through
MCSP.
“It is through communities like
(MCSP) that I feel like my dreams
will soon be a reality,” Fonseca
said. “The idea that I will one day
be able to give back and support
my community in the way they
have supported (me) will always
bring warmth to my heart.”
As the event came to a close,
Reilly and Beutel performed more
songs. Papers with QR codes were
handed out, directing attendees to
information about the Freedom
to Vote Act and providing phone
numbers to the Senate and the
House of Representatives, as well
as a template for those interested
in writing letters to members of
Congress about the Freedom to
Vote Act.
Alt also said the focus of the
event was to acknowledge Dr.
King’s life as well as a way for the
community to come together.
“We always try to stress here in
MCSP that you have a place here,”
Alt said. “Dr. King’s message of
the Beloved Community, this
idea that everybody has a right to
participate, that everybody has a
right and a place to belong in this
community.”
Daily Staff Reporter Madison
Kraft can be reached at madimk@
umich.edu.
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Songs, poems shared at Michigan Community Scholars Program Gathering
Circle of Unity focus on community, faith in
Diag celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Maria de Lourdes Hinojosa Ojeda, Dr. Rashad Richey talk MLK’s life and legacy
Memorial keynote lecture discusses importance of
policy change, voting rights
MADISON KRAFT
Daily Staff Reporter
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. SYMPOSIUM
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. SYMPOSIUM
JENNA HICKEY/Daily
CAMPUS LIFE
CARLY BRECHNER
Daily Staff Reporter
The University of Michigan Martin Luther
King Jr. Symposium memorial keynote lecture
Monday featured speakers Maria de Lourdes
Hinojosa Ojeda and Dr. Rashad Richey. The
virtual keynote was one of many events held as
a part of the 2022 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr. Symposium titled “This Is America.”
Organized by the Office of Academic
Multicultural Initiatives, the Symposium has
been an annual event since 1986. This year, the
events were originally scheduled to take place
in person at Hill Auditorium, but were moved
to a virtual format due to rising COVID-19
cases.
Keynote speaker Richey –– a professor,
political
analyst
and
Emmy-nominated
broadcaster –– discussed the transformation
and palatability of Rev. Dr. King’s ideas, as well
as how he was perceived by the public.
“We have cherry picked what we would like
Dr. King to be,” Richey said. “Dr. King was
called radical. They called him a communist.
They said he was a socialist. The same people
who called him that were simply adversarial to
a policy change in America.”
Richey also emphasized the importance of
understanding the difference between equality
and equity.
“This issue of equality versus equity has been
front and center in many conversations in this
country. I think some people have intentionally
mischaracterized the two,” Richey said. “Dr.
King talked about something called genuine
equality as opposed to equality as it relates to
mobility, to the Civil Rights Bill that allows you
to go places. He said ‘we need genuine equality.’
That was his way of saying equity.”
Hinojosa, multimedia journalist and author,
spoke regarding the significance of both
owning and sharing one’s history and story
while connecting her messages to the life and
lessons of Dr. King.
Speaker explores the lighthouse efect,
finding a collective humanity
Author Steve Pemberton on
impact of racial tensions,
fight for justice
CAMPUS LIFE
MARLEE SACKSNER
Daily Staff Reporter
Steve Pemberton – author,
business leader and motivational
speaker – spoke to over 200
members of the University of
Michigan community Monday
over Zoom for the University’s
“This is America” Martin Luther
King Jr. symposium. Pemberton
centered the discussion on Rev.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and
his life story, his own personal
life and the lighthouse effect. This
effect references a lighthouse as
someone who shows up in your life
and has a significant impact.
The symposium was organized
by the MLK Committee, sponsors,
the University library and the
School of Information.
Dean
of
Libraries
James
Hilton thanked the committee
for their efforts in creating this
symposium and described the
kind of speakers the committee
chooses each year. The speakers
are intended to honor MLK’s life
and these speakers range from
motivational speakers to book
authors to environmentalists.
“Every year the committee
does a phenomenal job of finding
amazing speakers,” Hilton said.
“Speakers
who
provoke
us,
speakers who push us to think
about the roles that discrimination,
bias and structural racism play in
our society and in our own lives.”
Hilton also used this time to
introduce Pemberton and explain
why he was chosen to speak at
the
event.
He
acknowledged
Pemberton’s
business
accomplishments,
awards
and
philanthropy work.
Read more at MichiganDaily.
com
NEWS
Dr. King symposium features professor
Lakesha Butler on health inequities
Event highlights disparities in healthcare,
higher education in America
SEJAL PATIL
Daily Staff Reporter
The
University
of
Michigan
College of Pharmacy and MLK
Health
Sciences
Committee
organized a lecture entitled “This
is America: Confronting Health
Inequities … Writing Prescriptions
for Change” to honor Rev. Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. Day. This was the first
of a complete symposium featuring
future events on Medical Apartheid
and Racial Disparities in Pain
Management.
The lecture was delivered by
Lakesha Butler, a clinical professor
of pharmacy practice and the
director of diversity, equity and
inclusion at the Southern Illinois
University
Edwardsville
(SIUE)
School of Pharmacy. She discussed
the importance of disrupting and
dismantling inequities and injustices
in healthcare and higher education.
As a national speaker on the topics
of
antiracism,
diversity,
equity
and inclusion, Butler began her
presentation discussing the different
versions of America that exist in
society.
“There are two Americas. One is
beautiful where millions have food
and material, culture and education
for their minds. They have freedom
and human dignity,” Butler said. “But
there is another America that has a
daily ugliness. Millions are forced to
live in distressed housing conditions.
Unemployment is a reality in this
lonely island of poverty. This causes
bitterness, anguish and angst.”
Event host Cherie Dotson, student
affairs program manager for Student
Recruitment & Outreach at the
U-M College of Pharmacy, opened
the lecture with remarks and a
performance by Committed of the
song “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
“We are so excited to host this
event for everyone and wanted to
extend a special thanks to the U-M
Read more at MichiganDaily.com