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

