Remembering the Dream

Sunday was King’s actual birthday, but the holiday is meant to remember not just the man, but his work and legacy. David Nesheim, interim director of assessment and academic affairs, along with the Diversity Committee and Social Science Club, put together six speakers to give sessions throughout the day, a march, and a MLK program in the Chicoine Center. Nesheim also worked with the Chadron Public Schools to have the elementary and middle school students attend the program.
Nesheim said CSC’s MLK Day agenda has grown considerably since he came here in 2012.
“I was shocked so little was done, so I wanted to make more things happen,” Nesheim said.
He said his plan has been to make the holiday bigger and better each year, and Monday was the fullest day of programming in the six years he has been in Chadron.
CSC alum Jovan Mays, a poet laureate of Aurora, Colorado, kicked off the day with an 8 a.m. session in the Ballroom discussing “American complacency.” Mays graduated from CSC in 2010, and he said during his time here, “there wasn’t a lot of black love.” He has returned to campus to speak each year, attending either MLK Day or Release, because he feels, “racial progress is very important here.”
Mays also participated in the march from Main and Third streets to the Chicoine Center. He read an original poem that he wrote while attending CSC, during the MLK program in the Chicoine Center, and performed another selection of his poetry during the Open Mic Night that evening in the Ballroom.
Four CSC professors spoke at the remaining sessions in the Ballroom. The afternoon kicked off with the march. CSC students, faculty, members of the men’s basketball team, Job Corps students, and Chadron community members, all joined together to march through the streets from downtown to campus, led by a police escort. At Shelton St. they met Chadron elementary students who were released from class to join the trek.
They ended at the Chicoine Center to attend the MLK Day Program. After a welcome from Nesheim and School of B.E.A.M.S.S. Dean Joel Hyer, Mays took the stage. His poem, recited from memory, was about African American’s struggles throughout history and how they were able to overcome adversity and follow MLK’s dream.
The Chadron junior singers, a seventh and eighth grade group, sang “We Shall Overcome,” followed by the Cardinal singers, who sang “MLK.” Jay Milburn, sophomore of Chadron High School, opened the song with an a capella solo for the latter group, who were all ninth-12th graders. As his clear voice echoed through the gymnasium, a calm fell over the crowd. Wendy Mahr, the Chadron fifth-12th grade choir instructor, directed both groups.
Keynote speaker Hillary Potter, a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, ended the program with her speech. Her focus was justice, diversity, and education. She spoke about training classes she had recently taken at a prison in Pennsylvania. After three days of intensive work at the prison, Potter found herself “overwhelmed.” She said we all become overwhelmed with our work at times. Anyone going through some sort of struggle will become overwhelmed at some point. But Potter’s lesson was to not let this stop our progress, but rather use this overwhelming feeling to drive us forward in our mission, whatever it may be.
“In our continued fight for justice of all kinds we will be overwhelmed, but we must use that for good,” Potter said. “For the good of ourselves, and of the just healthy lives we want our children in this country and in this world to live.”
After the program, Potter continued her discussion with a session in the Ballroom.
RLA hosted Open Mic Night at 7 p.m. to close out the day’s activities. CSC students, community members, Mays, and a high school student, took the stage to sing or recite poetry. Graduate students Gavan Archibald, of St. Ann, Jamaica, and Karl McFarlane, of Montego Bay, Jamaica, emceed the event.
Archibald, who recited two poems, said he felt it was important for him to take part in the MLK Day events.
“The impact that Dr. King has had on American history and its progress is worth celebrating,” Archibald said. “Being a black man, I felt it was my duty to share our black history with students, no matter what color they are.”
Archibald also walked in the march earlier that afternoon.
“We had a lot of kids doing the march with us, which was wonderful,” he said. “Starting at an early age teaching children about their history and the impact it has had in shaping the America they know today is always great, as you can’t know where you are going until you know where you’ve been.”
McFarlane also performed, singing two songs. He said he was happy to participate in the Open Mic Night as it “brings a different light to Chadron.”
Mays read a few of his original poems, including one entitled “Black Like.” It was a response to a racist Facebook comment Mays had seen, saying “this is what happens when you let them out the ghetto,” in regards to Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman’s rant. Mays fueled his rage into the poem, which described how some people only want to see a “particular kind of black,” like “black enough for you to pose in a picture with at your vacation to Jamaica,” “adoptable black,” or “That’s So Raven black.”
Mays brought the crowd to tears with his final poem, a dedication to a student he used to mentor in Chadron that has passed away. He said he loves open mic events because it creates a safe space for people to express themselves. He left the crowd urging them to be “advocates for heightened communication.”
The messages each speaker or performer displayed on Monday brought awareness of the ongoing civil injustices in our country. CSC celebrated the work of Martin Luther King Jr. that day, but as the speakers noted, it must be remembered throughout the year for our nation to progress.