Academy Prepares for MLK Day Observance

Over the past week, faculty, students and alumni across campus have been preparing for Exeter’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Day workshops and celebration. This Friday, Jan. 13, students will spend the day attending a keynote address and individual workshops, all of which will discuss how to confront racial injustice in today’s unusually divisive social and political climate, both within our own communities and on a national scale.

For student and faculty members of the MLK Committee, planning for Friday’s events has been in the works since last spring. Committee member Senior Charis Edwards characterized the theme of this year’s workshops as, “responding to racial injustice.”  She elaborated, saying “we often feel really frustrated when presented with a lot of these problems and we need to find motivation to solve them and find concrete actions to take.”

This year’s events are in many ways a departure from long-standing traditions of MLK Day at Exeter. Edwards noted many of the changes the MLK committee has enacted stem from “a feeling… of a lot of division across campus.” According to Edwards, the committee has shifted to a strategy of greater community-based interaction for this year’s workshops. Additionally, the MLK committee has opted against bringing in an outside speaker for the keynote address, a hallmark of MLK day in past years. Committee member and Senior Nada Zohayr explained the shift in the day’s agenda.  “This year we decided to look within ourselves and reach towards different members of our Exonian community in hopes that students will allow themselves to be immersed in this day and listen to each other,” she said.

“This year we decided to look within ourselves and reach towards different members of our Exonian community in hopes that students will allow themselves to be immersed in this day and listen to each other.”

In addition to the keynote speaker, this year’s workshops will feature six different speakers, ranging from authors, filmmakers and professional activists, all of whom will address the different ways they combat racial injustice in the world. Onaje X. O. Woodbine, author of Black Gods of the Asphalt: Religion, Hip-hop, and Street Basketball and a former Yale basketball player, will lead the “Strength for Struggle” workshop. Diversity workshop facilitator, Cheryl Cofield, will discuss ways to combat tension and silence regarding race in the “Can We Talk About Race?” workshop. In his “Are There Two Americas?” workshop, “Inclusion” Workshop Facilitator, Kip Bordelon, will discuss the racial tensions that plague our country and the ways our division manifests itself, with special attention to cases of modern activism like Colin Kaepernick’s recent national anthem protests. Danielle Lucero, a member of Future Indigenous Educators Resisting Colonial Education at Harvard University, will speak about the Dakota Access Pipeline Protests. Paul Outlaw, an award winning actor, brings a new perspective to MLK day with the screening of his film Shwarzfahrer, in which he portrays a train rider forced to endure other passengers’ racist jibes. Kameelah Rashad offers her unique perspective as a chaplain and a mental health counselor to address the connections between activism and mental health in her “Wellness and the Struggle for Justice” workshop.

Senior Edwards emphasized that there are people who call themselves activists, who contribute more publicly to promote social injustice, but there are others who contribute with their own individual actions.  The MLK Workshops this year are designed to inspire and include all types of activism.  She said, “Each workshop I hope can be seen as an individual saying, ‘this is what has worked for me.’”  She hopes this exposure to different ways of interacting with social issues will raise awareness or spark conversation on campus, “And then we individually, as a community, can say ‘is that realistic to my life?’ just in a very practical way I guess.” Zohayr agreed, “We looked for workshops and speakers that would truly hone into what it means to respond to the injustices of our world while being meaningful and proactive.”

One of the most noticeable absences in this year’s agenda is the African Drumming Ensemble and PEA dancers. For the past two decades, over 40 dancers and drummers have assembled on MLK day, performing in tribute to Reverend King and celebrating the tradition and culture embodied in West African rhythms. Recently, Exeter students have worked in collaboration with Babatunde Olatunji, a professional Nigerian musician. In addition to his mastery of African drumming, Olatunji is a civil rights activist in his own right, and through this collaboration has immersed Exeter students in the history and culture behind the civil rights movement, and Reverend King himself.

This year, African drumming and dancing is not on the schedule for MLK Day, sparking curiosity in the student body as to why. Music Faculty Randy Armstrong, who is also the teacher of the African drumming ensemble, provided his understanding of the committee’s decision to exclude the performance.  He said, “This year the MLK Day committee expressed a need to have a more serious tone to the MLK Day performances and workshops.”  Evidently, the African performance art did not follow this tone.

Armstrong expressed his intense disappointment in the decision to remove the drumming performance. He also stressed the importance of continuing dialogues about race and culture on campus. “The conversation shall continue and the increasing diversity of the student body is a testament of the need to keep on moving forward toward civil, equal and human rights and justice for all.” He encourages all to attend a music and dance concert called “Sound in Motion” on January 24th, where the African drumming ensemble and PEA dancers will be performing.