{"id":87132,"date":"2021-01-21T09:56:35","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T15:56:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/?p=87132"},"modified":"2021-01-22T10:35:54","modified_gmt":"2021-01-22T16:35:54","slug":"dsu-remembers-dr-martin-luther-king-jr-with-candlelight-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/2021\/01\/dsu-remembers-dr-martin-luther-king-jr-with-candlelight-ceremony\/","title":{"rendered":"DSU remembers Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with candlelight ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND, Miss.<\/strong>\u2014<\/strong> Following the national holiday in his remembrance and on the cusp of the presidential inauguration, Delta State University paused for a candlelight ceremony in honor of one of the nation\u2019s most revered civil rights leaders, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.<\/p>\n

Sponsored by DSU\u2019s Office of Student Life, the ceremony was hosted Tuesday, Jan. 19, at 6:30 p.m. in Jobe Auditorium. It was also streamed live on the DSU Office of Student Life\u2019s Facebook page.<\/p>\n

The event, themed \u201cRemembering the Light,\u201d was an opportunity for the DSU students, faculty, staff, and community members to reflect on the profound impact of King\u2019s legacy\u2014even today.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cHe was such a visionary in so many ways,\u201d said Delta State President William N. LaForge as he welcomed those in attendance, both in-person and virtually. \u201cHe was a crusader who brought important messages, very important communications, to this country particularly in a time of great need\u2026how timely are<\/span> those messages remain today.\u201d<\/p>\n

LaForge noted that the observance of MLK Day is chance for us to not only commemorate King, but to also continue his work.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a chance for us to dream\u2014to dream a bit bigger, to dream a bit more\u2014about how things really should be. It\u2019s a fair challenge for us to say, \u2018we have a dream\u2019 because those dreams can only turn into reality if we make them work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

During the event, program participants lit candles in King\u2019s honor. The candles represented unity, faith, harmony, dream, life, liberty, and healing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis celebration of Dr. King\u2019s legacy is important\u2014not simply to reflect on the life and work of a good man who led a movement, but one who moved this nation forward,\u201d said Jonethia Coleman, president of DSU\u2019s African American Student Council. \u201cWe want to remember Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement for what was accomplished in the fight against segregation, poverty and war.\u201d<\/p>\n

DSU SGA President Richard Word agreed on the importance of the ceremony, noting King\u2019s commitment to harmony.<\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout his life and career, Dr. King championed harmony between all people,\u201d he said. \u201cDr. King is quoted as saying \u2018let no man pull you so low as to hate him.\u2019 Hate and harmony are very opposite. As Americans, we should seek harmony with our fellow man\u2014now more than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

During faculty remarks, Michelle Johansen, DSU\u2019s coordinator of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, said that despite King\u2019s untimely death, he left us a rich, vast library of sermons, speeches, interviews, and insights into his progression from a young twenty-five-year-old pastor in Montgomery, Ala., to the most recognizable figure in the civil rights era by 1968.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor this Martin Luther King celebration in 2021, after all we have seen and gone through in the last year \u2026 I hope we will all keep \u2018calling each other in\u2019\u2026 that we extend grace to each other when we try but fall short,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Other program participants included an introduction of the president by student Davonte Henderson; prayer by DSU Assistant Director of Housing\/Youth Pastor Willie Grant; a musical selection by student Jayla Isom, accompanied by Rejohn Toten; and remarks by DSU Interim Vice President of Student Affairs Dr. Kurt. Keppler.<\/p>\n

DSU\u2019s Director of Student Development Rochelle\u00a0Owsley closed the program by leading the audience in a rendition of \u201cWe Shall Overcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all have light within us,\u201d she said. \u201cI want you to think about your light and letting your light shine, and hopefully we\u2019ll one day be celebrating your dreams as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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