Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Bemidji State University celebrated the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday with a weekend of giving and events that elevated the voices of Bemidji State’s Black community.
The celebration began Jan. 15 with a virtual event, “The People’s Peace: We Own It if We Build It,” co-sponsored by Bemidji State’s Student Center for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Faculty of Color Caucus and Black Student Union, along with local Bemidji’s Project-for-Change, Our Revolution and Peacemaker Resources. The event demonstrated that there is a collective group of people advocating for change.
Following an introduction by Colbey Wadsworth, a junior psychology major from Bemidji, the livestream welcomed numerous community speakers including Audrey Thayer, Bemidji City Council Ward 1 representative, and Alyson Allen ‘18, co-president of Project-for-Change.
“Social and systemic change are not things that can be done on an individual level,” Allen said. “It requires collective work. It requires that organizational spirit that Martin Luther King Jr. lived by. King didn’t boycott the Montgomery busses alone, it took coordination, collaboration and collective effort from a range of organizations under a unified goal of creating opportunities and fighting against the systems oppressing Black people.”
On Jan. 18, Bemidji State’s Black Student Union hosted a day of giving centered around King’s legacy of helping others. The club encouraged the campus community to perform small acts of kindness which, adhering to COVID-19 safety precautions, including mailing hand-written appreciation cards and cooking comforting meals for roommates and families. Additionally, the club delivered donations to Bemidji’s Village of Hope that it had been collecting since the beginning of the year.
The Black Student Union brought the day’s celebrations to an end with a trivia night, testing their audience’s knowledge on King during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and ‘60s.
For Black Student Union President Zoe Christensen, a criminal justice major from Glencoe, Minn., MLK Day provided an opportunity for reflection.
“I look at the never-ending obstacles King had to face in his lifetime and recognize his strength and courage to overcome,” Christensen said. “It is me who must speak. No matter the difficulty of the task or unusualness of the situation, I must speak.”
As the president of Bemidji State’s Black Student Union, Christensen has committed to advocating for marginalized communities and encourages others to do the same.
“Time and time again, I encourage others to speak up,” she said. “The battle against social injustices in this nation will never be won until the silent start speaking. We must follow in the footsteps of King and keep working to create real change.”
Embracing Diversity at BSU and NTC
The Student Center for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion coordinates programs and encourages conversations on equity and cultural understanding among members of the Bemidji State University and Northwest Technical College communities. It empowers students and employees to explore a deeper understanding of and respect for diversity in its many forms. This extends to everyone, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, physical ability and national or regional origin.
The Black Student Union
Bemidji State University’s Black Student Union, founded in 2017, strives to cultivate a spirit of unity and multicultural awareness on campus and in the region. With the support of its students and campus advisers, the Black Student Union aims to bolster personal development by creating diverse, academic and social environments for the BSU community.
Contact
- Dr. Ye (Solar) Hong, coordinator of the Center for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; (218)755-3773, ye.hong@bemidjistate.edu
Links
Bemidji State University, located amid the lakes and forests of northern Minnesota, occupies a wooded campus along the shore of Lake Bemidji. Enrolling more than 5,100 students, Bemidji State offers more than 80 undergraduate majors and eight graduate degrees encompassing arts, sciences and select professional programs. BSU is a member of the Minnesota State system of colleges and universities and has a faculty and staff of more than 550. The university’s Shared Fundamental Values include environmental stewardship, civic engagement and international and multicultural understanding. For more, visit bemidjistate.edu or find us at BemidjiState on most of your favorite social media networks.
2021-B-092
Bemidji State University, located amid the lakes and forests of northern Minnesota, occupies a wooded campus along the shore of Lake Bemidji. Enrolling around 5,000 students, Bemidji State offers 70 undergraduate areas of study and eight graduate degrees encompassing arts, sciences and select pre-professional programs. At Bemidji State University, we educate people to lead inspired lives. BSU’s Shared Fundamental Values include civic engagement and leadership, international and multicultural understanding, belief in the power of liberal arts, and environmental stewardship. BSU is a Minnesota State university. For more, visit bemidjistate.edu or find us at BemidjiState on your favorite social media networks.