GC&SU promotes new spirit behind King’s dream

More than 200 students and families took time on Monday to enjoy the open fields of Huley Park during Flagg Chapel Baptist Church’s annual Martin Luther King Day event. But this year was unlike any other because instead of just advertising the event, GC&SU became a part of it.

The university provided a keynote public speaker and ensured that both Masters and undergraduate students performed poems, speeches and scripture for the program. As a part of GC&SU Vice President Bruce Harshbarger’s “Your Camp is Your Community” campaign, a focus statement trained on furthering GC&SU’s involvement with Milledgeville, many of this year’s MLK Day events were sponsored by the college.

After a day of fun at the park and a long march of remembrance back to Flagg Chapel, audiences were treated to a talk by Georgia native and civic activist Keene M. Walker, who expressed why it is important to look beyond the dream.

“It’s a call to action for the community to come together and start doing something,” said Allia Carter, director of GC&SU Diversity & Multicultural Affairs.

The speech, “Waking up from the Dream” as well as Thursday’s play by Chapmyn Spoken Word, “Martin and Me”, are about finding a link between the Civil Rights Movement and current national challenges.

“(Walker) charged the audience as a collective to come together as a community and become more aware of each other and to connect and create visions for the future,” Carter said.

On Jan. 19, Chapmyn Spoken Word, a company based in Ohio, performed their play “Martin and Me” in the A&S Auditorium. Boasting a fusion of “hip hop poetry, historic music, side splitting comedy and powerful drama to revisit the message of Dr. King from the time of the movement to today.” “Martin and Me” uses film footage and short live skits to tell an entertaining story while furthering Walker’s assertion that the fight has not yet been won.

James H. Chapmyn, writer/actor and founder of Chapmyn Spoken Word says, “The events of Sept. 11 moved every American to respond. ‘Martin and Me’ helps us move past shock, anger, fear and horror toward personal responses that will change our selves, our families, our communities, our country and yes, our world.”

Carter shares the opinion that the King holiday should be about more than just a time back when.

“It’s about education, No Child Left Behind, the zero tolerance rules that we have in the school system now, the value of a bachelor’s degree, war and politics,” Carter said.

While most Americans recognize the famous speech delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on Aug. 28, 1963, four decades have overcast the power of that speech, and created a need for more than a dream. So GC&SU President Dorothy Leland encouraged Harshbarger and Carter to breathe new life into King’s observed holiday by integrating school activities with the surrounding community.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Jan 20 2006. Filed under Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry