MLK Day, 2013

This past weekend, I attended the MLK Day Coffee shop, where a selection of poetry was read by GC students and faculty. The poems—some original and some readings—mainly focused on race. However, it was also exciting to see the venue used for other marginalized groups in society today, namely latinos and members of the LGBTQ community. It was also inspiring to see, despite the early hour, so many students present and supportive of the coffee house. It’s refreshing to know that on a college campus today there are still enough students who feel passionately about enacting change for social justice.

All that being said, there was one aspect of the coffee house that bothered me a little. I say a little, because it truly was minor; perhaps less actually bothering me and more something I became aware of throughout the reading. I realized that a vast majority of the readers were minorities, or international students. And of those who were members of the white majority here on campus, none read original poems.

Now, I recognize the first issue is a complex one. I believe it’s good for minorities to have a strong voice and representation on campus. Regularly, in conversation with my friends from other countries, we’ve talked about how they feel marginalized on campus. So of course I think that any forum where their voice can be heard is beneficial. However, I think my issue lies in the fact that it takes an event like Martin Luther King, Jr. day for them to have a noticeable voice. But isn’t always having a voice part of what MLK struggled for? I don’t think it should take a day in his honor to have minorities and those less privileged have a voice.

My second issue is closely related to the first. In order to change the status quo and make it normal to have a higher representation of minorities, I believe that it will take active participation from those with more privilege. But I didn’t see white readers at the coffee house actively participating and engaging the issue. It’s one thing to get up in front of a group and read a poem about race. But to engage the issue, think about your own role in the system or what you’ve observed, and process that as you write and then perform a poem, is a completely different level. And until we have that kind of engagement, I don’t think we’ll be able to change things at a systemic level.

http://www.collegeplus.org/public/img/blog/mlkjr.jpg

That being said, I don’t believe the coffee house was a bad idea. I don’t think it was a wasted effort. But I feel very strongly that it would be wrong of us to think that we’ve arrived. In one of my classes this semester, one student responded that it was good to read books about race to children “so they know that that used to exist.” It’s simply not okay to think that. To that end, I think that it takes steps; progress doesn’t happen all at once, and having events like an MLK day coffee house where poetry on race is read is a step in the right direction.