The Barometer Online

Stefan Stignei, left, a junior in new media communications, attempts to light physics junior Dennis Lane's candle. Sam Leinen / The Daily Barometer [Click to enlarge]

A Monday night wind swept across the MU Quad, threatening to extinguish the candles carried by the attendees of the candlelight vigil in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.

Concluding their walk from the Lonnie B. Harris Black Cultural Center, the attendees helped each other relight the candles as they gathered on the MU steps.

The vigil began with introductions by officers of the sponsoring Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.

Jerome Thomas, senior in business administration and membership intake chairman of Kappa Alpha Psi, read a brief history of Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations at OSU. OSU, he said, has honored Dr. King with a candlelight vigil on that day since 1991, "to recognize a great man and a great movement."

Four days after King's death, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., proposed a national holiday to honor him. Fifteen years later, the holiday was approved by Congress and President Ronald Reagan. It was first celebrated in 1986.

There was opposition to the holiday from some Southern states, some of which celebrated Confederate generals instead of King. Some states did not celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day until 1992, Thomas said.

Four of the organizers recited the poem "Invictus" by William Ernest Henley, and the vigil concluded with a moment of silence for King.

"I was just glad to see the turn-out with the weather the way it is, wet and cold," said Earlean Wilson Huey, the coordinator of the Ujima Education Office. She said this shows that people still remember Dr. King's work.

"The struggles still continue. It's not something that's just in the past," said Keith Blair, a student in civil engineering and resident assistant in Bloss Hall.

"[It was] really moving - the poem was beautiful," said Chelsey Lake, general science student and fellow Bloss RA. Lake commented that, as RAs, they were required to attend a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event, and "this one kind of spoke to us the most."

Attendees were invited to move inside the MU for a roundtable discussion on "A Civil Action: Corvallis City Charter Review."

Alex Johnson, graduate student and facilitator, took a seat in the circle so it would be a true roundtable discussion, saying, "I'm not speaking down to anyone."

Johnson said the annual discussion has traditionally been designed to reflect on the theme of that year's celebration, but has often created frustration that the discussion brings no concrete result. For this year's theme, "Wake Up! Justice delayed is justice denied," the discussion became "a specific project to work on together."

The Corvallis City Charter will soon be under review, due to the Corvallis 2020 Vision, which seeks to make Corvallis "a community that honors diversity and is free of prejudice, bigotry and hate."

The discussion was designed to help the attendees become active participants in the upcoming review forums.

Johnson said the charter is the "political foundation of the city - a constitution/vision." He noted that while gendered language was recently removed from the charter, there are no affirmative action clauses. The review, he said, will address barriers to access to city services and citizen involvement.

Three topic forums are planned in February to address the topics of affirmative action, diverse identities and access to services and governance. In March, a public forum will be held by the City Council Charter Review Committee.

Article Tools