MLK celebrations begin

As the 84th birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. approaches, the members of Student Activities Board pairs up with the Multicultural center for a week of celebrating the leader of the African-American civil rights movement.

Brandon Hinton, multicultural enrichment director of Student Activities Board, is in charge of reaching out to students and encouraging them to interact with other cultures and races; his involvement in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration week helps him do just that.

“The main reason I believe we should have a Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration is because I don’t think people know what he has done in the past to get people to where they are today,” Hinton said.

There are a lot of race and ethnic cliques on our campus, Hinton said. “I feel like we can use this week to combine cultures and races together,” Hinton said.

While the celebration officially starts on Sunday with City Youth Ministries’ MLK Youth Explosion, the MLK Parade on Monday is what really kicks off the week. The parade starts at First Baptist Church in downtown Jonesboro and finishes on campus at Centennial Hall.

 “When the parade ends we will all end up at Centennial Hall where Dr. Reginald Porter, Sr. will be present and he’ll be talking to everyone about MLK, his works his meaning in general, and what MLK spoke and wanted us to know,” Hinton said.

On Wednesday, the Multicultural Center will be hosting the Internationally known Dallas Black Dance Theatre in Centennial Hall, said Meelviss Torres, Multicultural Center graduate assistant.

“Prior to that they will have a hip-hop dance workshop, where students will be able to meet professional dancers and learn dance techniques,” Torres said.

The Dallas Black Dance theatre is a group that expresses their ideas through movement, Hinton said. “I’ve seen many YouTube videos of them and they are exceptional,” Hinton said. “Admission is free.”

The annual Candlelight Vigil will be held on Thursday on the Heritage Plaza Lawn and the MLK Celebration will end with the MLK Service Project on Saturday.

Veronica Hawes, student engagement director of the Volunteer ASU Council, explained that the event is a series of beautification projects with City Youth Ministries, Habitat for Humanity, and The Learning Center.

“We are doing this in honor of Martin Luther King and his mission ‘to serve’ our community,” Hawes said. “During the project we are also attempting to split the students between different projects in a way to allow them to connect with others of different backgrounds.”

Hinton explained the main purpose of the MLK Celebration is to get all students together regardless of the differences that separate them. “I can understand why people think that MLK is just for the black community, but I do believe that the main purpose of what he was trying to tell us in his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech is for the human race in general to advance to a point to where every race, every nationality, every ethnicity comes together under one love,” Hinton said.