A group of community members, leaders and students gathered outside Galbreath Chapel Monday morning and bowed their heads in prayer — not in honor of someone who just died, but rather a moment of silence to honor an activist who was assassinated many years ago.
The assembly had formed to honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a silent march, a 13-year tradition organized by the Phi Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, one of the oldest branches of the first national black fraternity.
Among attendees was Athens Mayor Paul Wiehl, who has been attending Athens’ MLKJR Day celebrations since he first held the position.
“I think (the march) is just a snapshot of what (King) had to go through,” Wiehl said. “His marches were silent, but his marches were very contentious. It was a hardship, more than we’ll ever know.”
Despite the cold, about 50 people came out to march from the chapel to the Baker University Center.
Jerry Mobley, a sophomore studying electrical engineering, said he attended the march to cherish the values of Martin Luther King Jr. and the history he made.
“In my opinion, (the march) is honoring the powerful life of (King),” he added. “In a sense, (we’re) hearing his words through the march, through the silence and recognizing and remembering what he’s done.”
Once reaching Baker Center, many participants from the march joined other ticket-holders to fill the ballroom for the MLKJR Day brunch, which featured a live band and a series of speakers.
The lunch featured welcoming remarks from Derrick Holifield, president of Alpha Phi Alpha, along with OU President Roderick McDavis, Wiehl and Robin Muhammad, the co-chair of the MLKJR Day university events committee and OU African American studies department chair.
Following a performance by the Athens Black Contemporary Dancers to music stemming from one of Dr. King’s speeches was Terrence Frazier, the associate vice president for student affairs at Alabama A&M and a brother of Alpha Phi Alpha, who ran through how groups throughout the decades celebrated MLKJR Day.
After the attendees ate, keynote speaker Basheer Jones came onto the stage and opened with a segment of his own beat poetry, continuing to speak about how he has seen that human differences were still present due to environment, exposure, education and experience.
He then went on to urge the audience to be the next generation of leaders, stating that people should consider the way they impact others in their community in accordance with Dr. King’s message.
“(King’s) legacy was so powerful that even in his death, he is alive,” Jones said. “Are you willing to sacrifice like Dr. King? It’s a lot of pressure. And the issue is that some of the people that you are going to serve are going to not like you.”
However, this is not the first time Martin Luther King Jr. has inspired service in the Athens community. The weekend started off with a celebration of King’s value of giving back to one’s fellow man with a day of community service on Saturday.
Participants worked on four different projects respectively, including the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, a Habitat build, a United Campus Ministry lunch and service at the Southeast Ohio Food Bank.
Jelani Boyd, a freshman studying chemical engineering, said he chose to work at the Habitat ReStore because he wanted to give back through construction.
“I feel like (the volunteering) builds character, and it’s something proactive, and I’m all for it,” Boyd said.
After working at the organizations, a small group of students gathered to discuss their work. Jim Sand, a member of the university committee for the MLKJR Day events, said that while he wished more students had turned out to reflect on the day of service, he appreciated the people who did.
“I was very moved by some of their comments,” Sand said. “I got a little choked up at a couple of them.”
In his speech, Jones said that in order to truly give back to a community, one should not discriminate in his or her service.
“Whether it’s the elephant or the ant hill, you must serve everybody,” Jones said. “I said, whether it’s the elephant or the ant hill, whether it’s the President Barack Obama or the drug addict from Superior, a street in Cleveland, Ohio — serve everybody.”
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