BSU Holds Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration with Guest Speaker

Bemidji State University held its annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration on Tuesday evening. Every January, they host a guest speaker to speak about Dr. King’s life and the impact that he made.

This year’s speaker was Dr. Yohuru Williams, founding director of the Racial Justice Initiative at the University of St. Thomas. The focus of Dr. Williams’ presentation was not on Dr. King himself, but the people who surrounded him and the civil rights movement.

“We want to empower the community and work together with the community,” explained BSU’s Associate Campus Diversity Officer and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Director Ashley Gomez. “So being able to see campus staff members as well as students and community members to be in the same room, to collectively learn and hear about these important messages, is amazing. It’s what we want and how we would like to move forward as we build this bridge between the community and campus. And honestly, not one person can change the world. We have to work collectively – every little steps that we all take collectively become the plan to move forward.”

Although Dr. Williams had to join by Zoom instead of being able to attend in person, there were still nearly 40 people at the presentation to learn more about the history of the civil rights movement.