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Twenty five members of DU’s Black Student Alliance, along with an estimated 40,000 other individuals, took their day off work to gather and participate in Denver’s annual Marade in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.
“The best way to show how much we care is to dedicate ourselves to progress; we as an African American community are capable of making change,” said BSA vice president, junior Kiandra Foster. “That’s why we come together for something like this.”
The BSA marched together with students from Thomas Jefferson High School as well as Shades of Brown Alliance, a group of graduate students in the School of Social Work.
Both the undergraduate and graduate groups attempt to collaborate for various cultural events.
“We focus on diversity and try to have meaningful dialogues in our school,” second year graduate student and president of Shades of Brown, Badiah Haffejee said. “This is a good way to educate those who do not know about Martin Luther King’s work.”
“I think there is a lack of awareness,” Clarke said. “Hopefully in the future, with outreach and better relationship-building, it will be a lot easier to plan and resource events like this.”
The mass of people congregated at the “I Have a Dream” monument beginning at 9:00 a.m. for opening ceremonies. Music played and various speakers and presenters addressed the crowd over loudspeaker.
The event was named by former Colorado First Lady Wilma Webb to indicate its intersection between a political march and festive parade. The 3.1 mile long route stretched from City Park into the State Capitol grounds to Civic Center Park, concluding with a rally and the cutting of a celebratory cake. King’s birthday was declared a Colorado state holiday in 1984. This is the second largest MLK event in the country.
Though Foster has been an active member since her freshman year at DU, she opted to become more involved with the organization this year.
“I saw some areas of DU that call for improvement,” she said. “Sometimes… it’s hard to feel supported. [People] see media stereotypes and do not know how to react or interact with people of the African American community. We want to spread awareness and allow them to see we are a diverse people.”
Additionally, though no events were announced or promoted to take place on campus Monday, the office of the University Chaplain will host a “Dreaming on the Bridge” activity. Coloring sheets will be provided from Jan. 18 through Jan. 21, with “I have a dream…” bubbles to be filled in on the Driscoll Bridge.
“We’ll invite people to color the page and add their dream for social justice ,” the event’s host, Chaplain Gary Brower said. “Then, we will suspend them from cords on the windows of the Bridge for people to see. The project seemed appropriate for an MLK observance.”
The national holiday, which falls on the third Monday of every January, provides individuals, groups and organizations the opportunity to actively remember the Reverend’s contributions to the fight for freedom and equality of all races in the U.S in a myriad of ways.
Federal offices, banks and businesses nationwide closed Jan. 17 to celebrate the day.
“There’s still a lot of progress to be made but we have made a lot of progress already,” Clarke said. “To be a minority at a private school, I feel very privileged and it wouldn’t have been possible without the huge steps that were made over a half-century ago.
“Now, it is important not to let in-activism take over.”
