Film Screening and Lecture to Commemorate Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.

By Catherine Collins

A documentary and guest speaker will commemorate the  birthday of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., on Jan. 31 on Hood’s campus.

A film called “At the River I Stand,” which chronicles the summer of 1968, specifically the sanitation workers’ strike inMemphis,Tenn.and King’s assassination, will be screened at 12:30 p.m. inWhitakerCampusCenter.

“This film fleshes out the story of aMemphissanitation worker and his co-workers and how Dr. King’s resilience and tenacity gave them strength to overturn the debilitating economic structure of their hometown and eventually the South as a whole,” said Dr. Kiran Chadda, director of multicultural affairs and international student programs.

“The Hood community has much to gain from viewing this film,” Chadda said.

“We, too, are a ‘melting pot’ of cultures on campus and must continue to accept everyone for who they are regardless of where they came from or what economic strata they belong to or what traditions they believe in,” she continued.

Later in the afternoon, Dr. Peter Levy, professor of history atYorkCollege, will give a lecture entitled “The Dream Deferred: The Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and the Holy Week Uprising of 1968.”

Levy’s talk, which will take place at 6:30 p.m. inWhitakerCampusCenter, will examine the nation’s reaction to King’s death in 1968, and will focus on specific events inBaltimore.

“So many of us have seen footage of Dr. King’s ‘I Have A Dream’ speech, or the March on Washington in 1963, or the Bloody Sunday March from Salma to Montgomery Alabama in 1965, but not many people are aware of what happened after his death and how ordinary men used his principles and tactics to incite change in major cities,” Chadda said.

She added. that the inclusion of local historical events will make the lecture even more interesting and relevant for students.

“Hatred and violence have not been completely eradicated and have only worsened in the past decade with genocides, terrorism, and hate crimes,” Chadda said. “The present day generation must take a stand against these toxic acts and rally for the good of all, just as Dr. King’s followers did during the days immediately following his death.”