By Richard Parker
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Martin Luther King Jr. spoke these words from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Aug. 28, 1963. On Jan. 17, our nation celebrated this extraordinary leader and, in doing so, remembered the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. What I wish to do is to remember not only King, but many of the others who were involved in this period of social change as well.
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Congress of Racial Equality were only two of the many notable college organizations that took part in the Civil Rights Movement. These two groups sponsored the Freedom Rides where black and white volunteers tested new laws concerning interstate transit by taking bus rides through the south.
Activists came from various social statuses within our society. People of different races, ethnicities, genders, political ideologies, sexualities, religions, social classes and secular ideologies were involved. There were mothers, brothers, fathers, sisters, uncles, friends, classmates, rivals, enemies, neighbors, associates, lovers, children, grandparents, coworkers and total strangers who cooperated to achieve a common goal. All of those involved radically shifted the course of history and altered the socially constructed system of race in our society.
In remembering this incredible level of cooperation, we can appreciate and acknowledge the remarkable importance of our own actions. We, as individuals, as students, as campus organizations and as universities, are always involved in shaping our shared social climate, if only by our silence. We have enormous responsibility and power. And in acknowledging that power I would like to call upon you, my fellow students, faculty, administrators and staff, to resume the work of the Civil Rights Movement, of King, of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, of the Congress of Racial Equality, and of the millions of those in past generations who fought against discrimination and suffering.
We are faced with many forms of suffering at our present time, too many even to attempt to cover within a single article. In the city of Louisville, there are those who are without shelter, without food and without hope. We have food deserts within the inner city, where nutritional food is not as easy to acquire as it may be for those of us who are more fortunate. They need our help, and that is reason enough for us to provide it.
Discrimination still holds a presence, but not only in racial form. The discrimination of today appears to be toward the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. I still remember reading and writing on the suicide of Tyler Clementi last year and the pain he must have gone through. He is sadly one of the many in the LGBT community who has experienced the suffering brought by discrimination, prejudice, ignorance and bullying.
These are by no means the only issues facing our community and nation today. My hope is that, in remembering the accomplishments of past generations, we all realize the potential we have – the potential to show love to those in need and to each other, merely for the sake of appreciating each other. Let us not be satisfied with spending a day honoring a man who lost his life serving the future, but let us honor him by continuing his work and the work of all those who were engaged in that great movement’s struggle. We are the next generation. Let’s get to work.
