From left, Anaya Bass, Jenelle Smith and Joshua Harris, members of the WCC Black Student Union, perform a poem at the WCC Martin Luther King Jr, celebration. Eric Le | Washtenaw Voice
Lilly Kujawski
Editor
WCC students, staff and faculty congregated in the Student Center to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.. Attendees honored the civil rights hero with music, poetry and speeches.
WCC Black Student Union members Anaya Bass, Jenelle Smith and Joshua Harris shared a poem at the event.
“We forget that ‘til 1964 I could have not gotten a job based on the color of my skin, gender, the god we pray to, or the country we come from, but ‘I have a dream” are the only words we remember,” Bass, Smith and Harris said in their poem.
The theme of the event was “keep moving forward,” which was based off of a quote by King: “If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.”
The keynote speaker was Erane Washington, a local attorney and community leader. In her remarks, she said the power in King’s words was the way they enabled many people’s lives and propelled action in others.
She said that while our individual impact may not be as big as King’s was, we can still create social change in our own unique ways.
“We can’t all be Dr. King; some of us have to walk, some of us have to crawl,” Washington said.
In their poem, the BSU members envisioned their own dreams of equity and freedom for the black community and other marginalized groups.
“I have a dream that one day institutionalized chains will not bind us; I have a dream that a Tyron, a José, or an Ahmed could get the same job that a William can,” the group said. “I have a dream that someone’s ability to read wouldn’t be questioned based on the color of their skin; I have a dream that a woman’s wage will someday be the same as the wage of a white man.”
The poem described the realities of racism today and gave a nod to the leaders of the past.
“It is easier to get a job if you ‘sound white’—we are still dreaming; little black boys are scared of the police before they even know what the law is—we will keep on dreaming; because this dream is an ongoing battle, a warzone fought with our bodies and answered with bullets,” Bass, Smith and Harris said in their poem. “Because without this fire for freedom, there would have been no Martin Luther King Jr., no Maya Angelou, no Harriet Tubman, no Malcolm X, no Jesse Owens, no President Obama.”
The event featured WCC’s first “Equity in Action” awards ceremony, which recognized staff and community members who stand out in their work to create a more inclusive and diverse environment.
The three winners of the award were Zachary Baker, Writing Center secretary and organizer of the Michigan Community College Gender and Sexuality Conference, Kristin Gapske, Entrepreneurship Center director who works to make the space inclusive and representative of the campus, and Devon Keen, assistant director of outreach and transfer student initiatives at the University of Michigan School of Information, for her work in guiding WCC students who are interested in transferring there.
