Martin Luther King Junior Day Celebrations at Cornell
by Chelsea Steelhammer, Staff Writer
Photo by Hillary Swift
The Orange Carpet found itself filled with Cornellians and community members Monday, Jan. 16 for an annual event honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Poets, potters, police-profiled presenters and praise dancers graced the aged rug in what Jacob Strain (13) called “a celebration of Dr. King’s legacy.”
Intercultural Life President Ken Morris began the introduction and spoke of how King’s words are still relevant in today’s world: “To move forward, you have to look back… I see a lot of things going on in the world… movements’ power-shifts to contrast [the racist aspects of today’s society.]”
The event began to gather steam with three poems read by three third-year students. Strain took the microphone first, calling MLK his father, his teacher. Then came Ariel Harris (13), commenting on the need to choose between Martin Luther King and Malcolm X when “both of these men shared an equal fate.” Neisha Croffitt (13) closed the poetry session with a poem so powerful chills were felt throughout the audience.
Doug Hanson, Cornell art professor, came to the podium and spoke about the impact that Dr. King had on him. Hanson said that he was inspired by the nonviolence movement towards peace and equality. For years, he has been taking classes of Cornell students up to the penitentiary to teach inmates how to make art (pottery, specifically) out of what they had available to them in the prison. One of the most noticeable artworks to come out of the longest Cornell service project running is the mural beside the Ratt. The work was created by 16 Cornell students and 16 inmates and is full of vibrant colors, textures,and emotion. The college class went to the prison every Wednesday for two months to complete this one-of-a-kind fixture.
Hanson also works closely with an organization called Potters for Peace, which provides people in developing nations with tools to better their lives. One aspect is the giving of microloans, which then enables families to make a living. Hanson pointed out that “Potters for Peace provided microloans to the Nicaraguans while the US had bombs in the harbor.”
Another way Potters for Peace helps is through water filters. Hanson showed the crowd a clay filter that can provide a family with clean drinking water for life. The filter is made of clay mixed with sawdust which burns out in the kiln, making a sieve. This sieve kills 99.6% of the germs and diseases present in the waters which so much of the world still depends on as drinking water. Under the guidance of Potters for Peace, potters in Central and South America made 2.5 million filters. Now, the manufacturing of these drinking filters is entirely out of Potters for Peace’s hands and in the capable hands of the partnerships developed through the social justice-oriented program.
This “for peace” lifestyle echoes through Hanson’s life, even onto the soccer field. Since American soccer is vastly popular with the rest of the world, Hanson (as coach) told his players that soccer can be a universal way to reach out to people. His players then honored him with a shirt proclaiming “Soccer for Peace.”
After Hanson spoke, Chad Simmons of Diversity Focus Inc. spoke about Martin Luther King Jr. and his call for servant leaders. Simmons was dressed formally save for an Iowa Hawkeyes knit cap explained his deliberate wardrobe choice. The previous weekend he had been driving in Cedar Rapids wearing the same hat and was pulled over by police officers. The officers said that Simmons was speeding; Simmons complied with the officer’s request for paperwork and waited while the officer went back to his car and plugged in the information. When the officer returned to the car, he asked Simmons for permission to search the vehicle because he “smelled marijuana.” Simmons, not having smoked marijuana, knew this to be false and told us, “he didn’t see past my clothing—he didn’t see my education, my dreams, my accomplishments—he only saw my skin color and how I was dressed.”
Simmons closed with a challenge. He told Cornellians to be proud and asked, “What is your dream? What is your decision to make your dream a reality?”
The whole event closed with a praise dance by three members of BACO. BACO’s Black History Month and Martin Luther King Week Committee hosted the event.