By Michael Kennedy
There wasn’t an empty seat to be found in Bingham 100 Friday, as more than 200 students, faculty and others gathered to pay tribute at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Service.
The service is a yearly tradition for this weekend and it began with greetings from the Provost. Dr. Shirley Willihnganz urged listeners to “look for way that consciously or unconsciously we’re perpetuating racism.”
After that, the first part of the ceremony felt more like a worship service than a memorial, with a prayer and two different choirs singing religiously themed songs. The Youth Performing Arts Chamber Choir from Manual High School wowed the crowd with their rendition of “Elijah Rock.”
The keynote address was delivered by Dr. Boyce Watkins, professor of finance at Syracuse University. Watkins, author of the book “What if George Bush were a Black Man,” appears on cable news networks to offer his opinions on race relations.
His talk, “Being a King on King Day: Ruling Your Destiny and Leaving Your Mark on the World,” isolated the character traits of King that made him successful, and encouraged his audience to use these to achieve their dreams in life.
His plea to students was to keep working hard. He contended that one of things that allowed King to stand against his enemies was his education.
“There is nothing more important that you can do for yourself right now than to educate yourself into the ground,” he said.
However, he stressed the need for action, and not just education.
“A car can have a great engine and a lot of gas, but if you don’t put your foot on the pedal, it’s not going anywhere.” He went on to say that the world needs “less Ph.D.’s and more Ph.Do’s.”
Conrad Thomas, a sophomore with an undecided major, found Watkins’ talk inspirational. He said that his talk of “using effort and working hard to achieve your aspirations brings out the value in yourself.”
“There is a king or queen in all of us – Everybody can do the exact same thing that Dr. King did,” Watkins said.
