In honor of the political activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Sinclair Community College will be holding a weeklong event known as “MLK speaks”. The event consist of hour-long sessions where students and faculty will open a discussion on race relations that affect everyone in the United States. Starting on January 12, the events will go through January 20 and will include a walk from building 12 of Sinclair through west Third Street on January 19, led by Dayton police officer Terry Purdue.
The session will begin on January 12 with “Racism Big and Small” where speakers Jonathan and Taylor Curtis will discuss the views of racism from an individual and group perspective. January 13 will be “150 years of Civil Rights in 40 minutes” where Vonya Lewis will go into detail on the history of civil rights from its beginning over a hundred years ago. Amaha Selassie will be the key speaker of “Student Action, Now and Then” which will discuss how students have participated in the civil rights movement, both in the past and present. “Voices in Action” will be an open mic event where students will be allowed to share original poems, perform a song or dance and read from a favorite essay or speech, hosted by Rev. Aaron Saari. January 16’s discussion, “Impact Social media has on children, adolescents and families” will be about how the social media portrays certain races on television and if that, in fact affects how people view race in the outside world and will feature former WDTN reporter, Marsha Bonhart.
While there will be no classes on January 19, Sinclair will be holding a march and rally. In the great hall in building 12, guests will have the chance to have breakfast at 9:45 a.m., then hear a welcoming from Sinclair president Steven L. Johnson, remarks from Officer Terry Perdue, and closing and marching instructions from Vice President Madeline Iseli.
The guest will proceed to take a bus from Building 12 to Third St. to meet community marchers and march to the Dayton Convention Center. In addition to the events of “MLK speaks”, Aaron Saari will host a Sinclair talks titled “Faith and Justice in America: Living into Dr. King’s dream?” will discuss whether people believe. Dr. King’s dream of people united has not come true. “Sinclair has traditionally done this event for over 30 years”, says Peter Bolmida, a member of the committee that worked on the event. “A significant number of faculty, staff and students have participated in the events and march through the years,” said Bolmida.
Sinclair is happy to have Dayton Police officer Terry Purdue lead the march from the Dayton campus. Purdue, a former Sinclair student, also runs “The Unit”, an exercise club that participates in community services and events.
“[The Event is] the way that the campus celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. and everything he stood for,” said Bolmida.