MLK was a person who believed anything could happen when you set your mind to it. He was a person who fought at a time that was most necessary in our society. Without him, we would not have the future we have today. MLK saw issues within racism and prejudice and simultaneously raised a nation of people to fight for what we deserved, what was necessary for us. Although, let’s not forget there is still work to be done within our society. The point of MLK day is to honor him and the legacy that he has passed down. I’m sure some of you have seen that Martin Luther King Jr.’s family is telling people to not celebrate MLK day. Although we recognize this, and it should be acknowledged, the point of MLK day is to help Martin Luther King’s legacy to live on. Because of this, BSU and DEI believe it’s more than necessary to still host this event. This event is aimed to start change and awareness within our school led by students. Now, you may not feel like you need to change our school. But let’s hope that what we have in our agenda will at least entice you a little (fingers crossed?) Sadly, I’m writing this to you after MLK Day On has passed, but hopefully this will convince you to come to next year’s event? I’m begging.

To start, this year MLK Day On was held on Zoom! We knew you didn’t want to spend your day off in school (such a drab). So to please you, yes you, this event was held on Zoom. We hosted this event on Zoom so you could have a low commitment (but interactive) day whilst staying safe on this snow day. Time will tell if this event will be in person next year, I personally hope it will because it’s great to see the action in a physical sense. Now, sorry to keep you waiting, let’s discuss the agenda of MLK Day On.

This year, we started off with a fishbowl activity where people recognized specific identifiers within themselves. These identifiers ranged from race, sexual orientation, religion, and other core identifiers. One of the key principles within MLK Day On that we’ve continued throughout the years is to lean into discomfort. This was especially relevant to this activity, as you were asked to turn your camera on when an identifier spoke to you. This required our participants to be vulnerable, and as a result allowed everyone to feel more comfortable with each other.  

One of the best parts of MLK Day On is that you sign up beforehand for the activities you want to participate in. During this year’s event, we had a gender bridge activity which was led by Cate Sindler, an art activity led by Jocelyn Hayes and Hannah Chang, a poetry event led by AJ McCreary, and finally a community service panel led by Matthew Southers and Torey Bullock. All of these events allowed the attendees to focus on something more specific that they were interested in. 

In the end, what I want you to know about this event is that it, and its message, should be continued. The whole reason I wrote this article is because in the days leading up to the event people kept asking me: “What is MLK Day On even about, and would I want to go there on my day off?” Well, the main reason is to support the cause and to hopefully help you learn a little bit about MLK and what he stood for. The students who attended, including myself, worked really hard to get the word out about MLK Day On. My hope is that we can continue this tradition within Winchester, and we can continue to teach about important issues through events such as MLK Day on and beyond.