Monday, Jan. 15 marks Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but, local experts said, the man was more than often gets remembered.
According to the National Museum of African American History & Culture, it was not until Nov. 2, 1983 that “President Ronald Reagan signed the King Holiday Bill into law, designating the third Monday in January a federal holiday in observance of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” That represents a 15-year gap from when legislation to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day was introduced, four days after King’s April 4, 1968 assassination, the site says. “It would take an additional 17 years for it to be recognized in all 50 states (and) today, it is the only federal holiday designated as a national day of service to encourage all Americans to volunteer and improve their communities.”
On Jan. 29, Hartwick College and the State University of New York at Oneonta will host their annual MLK event, featuring local panelists and keynote speaker Dr. Jelani Cobb, a writer for the New Yorker and speaker on race.
Dr. Kyle Burke, returning panelist and Hartwick associate professor of sociology and director of the college’s Peace and Conflict Studies Program, called Martin Luther King Jr. Day “a moment for us to move out of the sanitized version of King.”
“Most Americans, of all political stripes, tend to agree that Martin Luther King is an important figure that deserves public adulation and remembrance,” he said. “But, for many, the version of King they receive through schooling or mass media or otherwise is quite sanitized and a vision that is not quite what King was working toward. They tend to know ‘I have a dream’ and, while King did indeed say those words, the point of his life’s work, but especially the tail end of it … was a much broader and deeper inquiry into the sources of economic inequality and their racial dimensions, which led King into a sustained criticism of the United States as a society. The problem in America wasn’t simply a problem of race, but a problem of wealth, materialism and a problem of what he called spiritual bankruptcy and rampant militarism. Through his eyes, all these issues connected … and that King was quite radical and not a comfortable figure that fits into the pantheon of American heroes. He was a critic of and opponent of capitalism … and that version of King, I don’t think a lot of people want to have in their eyes. He’s not someone saying ‘just all get along;’ he’s calling for broad-scale transformation of the nation at its very core.”
Zachary McKenney, Hartwick College associate professor of sociology, said he, too, sees King muted in collective memory. McKenney will join Burke on the Jan. 29 panel.
“When the great Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. first gets involved in an official capacity with the Civil Rights Movement, it’s the Montgomery Bus Boycott and, I don’t think people understand this, but he is only 26 years old and relatively unknown outside of his congregation and somewhat reluctant to step into this role,” he said. “As a result of his incredible oratorical skills and charisma, he’s really elevated to this position, but it’s remarkable thinking about how young and how unknown he was … and then he becomes the face and one of, if not the key, leader of the Civil Rights Movement.
“Then, by the later stages of the Civil Rights Movement — the end of the 1960s — King is really beginning to understand, as he is grappling with the apparatus of the state and trying to dismantle racism, that it is not solely about race,” McKenney continued. “He protests Vietnam and then protests capitalism, and this is where we really see King focus not just on the Civil Rights Movement as Black, but as a movement of poor, marginalized people of all races and nationalities. It’s at that moment in 1968, in Memphis, when Martin Luther King is joining with the Labor Movement, that he’s going to be assassinated. And the state was very afraid of Martin Luther King; we celebrate his legacy now, but J. Edgar Hoover referred to him as one of the most dangerous men in America.”
Sources said engagement with a deeper understanding of King, particularly on college campuses and through programming such as the Jan. 29 event, is rising.
“I think it’s increasing, which would be both institutions trying to recognize, deal with and explain the nature of the United States and its racial and political order, but also the historical trajectories that have produced our present moment,” Burke said. “In that regard, Martin Luther King Day is useful not just to think about King, but to consider and understand what historians refer to as the Long Civil Rights Movement or the Long Black Freedom Struggle, from slavery to our present day. As people are trying to assert and claim citizenship and the rights that come with that … and to deal with the historical injustices perpetuated by Jim Crow, Martin Luther King Day helps do that in a broad sense, and his life and legacy provide a window into that world that he was a part of and conversant with.
“I think a lot of (that increase) has been student-driven, as our student population has shifted over the past decade or two, and Black students, in particular, are calling out for, or demanding, college programming that helps deal with ongoing problems in our society, and not just race, but economic inequality, environmental injustice,” Burke continued. “So, students are interested in these kinds of things and administrations are trying to respond to and create an environment that doesn’t just respond to those student concerns, but tries to deal with them.”
“I think the murder of George Floyd in 2020 and the protests that followed especially … impacted a lot of young people and college students,” McKenney said. “That’s not to say it didn’t impact everyone, but it forced a major reckoning for a lot of institutions in the United States and a reckoning with colleges and universities who may have been reluctant in the past to really embrace Black Lives Matter or some of these movements. This was a catalyst, a watershed moment. You see almost immediately after the murder of George Floyd … colleges issuing statements and begin creating, if none had existed before, DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging) offices and hiring individuals in positions of leadership focused on diversity on campuses.
“On the one hand, this is incredibly admirable and a necessary moment and something that many college students were clamoring for,” he continued. “But you saw a lot of colleges and universities paying lip service to this movement. There’s a business case being made for diversity that undercuts … and sells the movement short. Speaking only from my perspective and what I’ve seen at Hartwick, I think what we are doing is genuine. (Former college president) Darren Reisberg made issues related to diversity and creating inclusivity a priority, and we have seen that continue under the new administration. The hiring of Alicia (Richardson, Hartwick College’s diversity, inclusion and belonging officer) and the promoting of Alicia to a leadership role is indicative of more than just lip service, and wanting to be true to becoming an institution that is diverse, inclusive, equitable and where people feel like they can belong. And you see it reflected in terms of the number of student members of affinity groups on campus; we have a very robust Black student union and there was the formation of a Latino club recently and the DEIB office and the work they’re doing should absolutely be acknowledged.”
Richardson has been at her post for nine months, though she estimated the position was created in 2019. Richardson said students are responding to the expansion of her department and its offerings.
“The Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging is now part of what we call the DEIB Center, and that includes me and two women,” she said. “We’re now an institutional entity that supports the entire campus and we have a member who works with students and mentors, another that works with faculty and I’m working institution-wide to develop and achieve the goals they have set.
“(Greater student engagement) has been one of the most lovely things about us becoming a unit, and now we’re actually in a space where students can come and we can hold programming or just lounge and study,” Richardson continued. “We’re finding that students are finding us. Students know where to come and seek us out when they’re stressed or upset or even when they’re joyful. It’s hard to capture (figures), because it’s an engagement that’s informal; the programming is formalized and students will come for that and are interested in what’s available to them, but what we see is an informal stopping-by. We’re seeing a lot more of that, which I think speaks to the success of creating the space … and I think it’s been a revelation for the campus to have a space dedicated to engagement, belonging and inclusion.”
The Jan. 29 program, Richardson said, is an extension of that.
“I think we realized and came to an understanding that, when we work collaboratively, specifically as it relates to diversity, there’s much more benefit in us coming together,” she said.
“We’re bringing those diverse groups together and having those shared experiences and talking through things that have been helpful to them in the area and seeing each other more as resources and support for our different diverse student body groups. For example, SUNY Oneonta invited members of our community to join their affinity groups. Oneonta in general isn’t as diverse outside of the college campuses, so this allows that opportunity for people to come together that have shared experiences and to build community.”
Such rising engagement, sources said, is beginning to be mirrored in the broader culture.
“Some Americans are becoming more cognizant to racial inequality, but another pool is increasingly reluctant to those conversations, but what’s driving that, particularly in recent years, would be … the growing visibility of police violence and fractured relations between Black people and policing populations across the nation,” Burke said. “George Floyd and many in between have opened Americans’ eyes to vistas of racial inequality that has deep historical roots but is also the product of more recent inequality — incarceration, housing, school access, the persistence of formal and informal patterns of segregation. And there’s the visibility of grassroots activists who have been able to utilize social media and other forms of democratized information technologies — all of that has contributed to it.”
“Over the years, (Martin Luther King Jr. Day) has grown in an understanding of its connection to our society,” Richardson said. “The shifts we’re seeing and the issues we’re seeing and the points of contention are, in some ways, connected to these celebrations and allowing us to remember the words, ideas, theories and recommendations of those who came before. That’s what we’re seeing a lot of: that those who have come before us are still relevant. So, we’re seeing a resurgence of these things in popularized ways, because we’re in the midst of societal turmoil, and the words of Martin Luther King are just as relevant today as when he said them.”