Eastern Michigan Athletics
EMU Student-Athletes Participate in Self-Organized MLK Day Celebrations
1/18/2021 4:36:00 PM | General, Engagement
Football student-athlete Tariq Speights led organizational efforts for both a march and virtual panel event
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YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- Nearly 100 Eastern Michigan University student-athletes came together for a two-part celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.'s life and legacy today, Jan. 18, in Ypsilanti. Today is MLK Day, a federal holiday which honors the civil rights activist and his efforts to bring forth social change in the United States.
The celebration, which consisted of both an in-person march and virtual panel discussion, began at 1 p.m. in downtown Ypsilanti. Developed and organized by EMU football junior Tariq Speights (Valencia, Calif.-Valenica (College of the Canyons)), the events were open to any members of the Southeast Michigan community.
Convening in downtown Ypsilanti, the first portion of the celebration was a march, put together with the hopes of honoring Dr. King's calls for nonviolent protest of social injustice. With masks on, the student-athletes, and members of the EMU Department of Athletics walked peacefully up and down the main streets in the area, chanting along the way. Numerous business owners and residents stepped out to witness the movement, many of which were supportive.
"Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. used peaceful protests and marches as a way to gather people of all different races, economic statuses, and nationalities to advocate for racial equality," said Speights via his promotional graphic for the event on Twitter. "Our country needs healing, we need love, not more hate."
EMU Head Football Coach Chris Creighton, who also attended the event, added "Our team is full of difference makers, and that was on display today. I am so proud of Tariq's leadership and all of the different members of our team that came together to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr."
Following the march, a virtual panel discussion featuring prominent members of the community was held. Again open to the public, the event featured keynote speakers Pastor Jason Robinson, Minister Celeste Tibbs, and Sheriff Jerry Clayton, of Washtenaw Country. Each addressed the current climate of social injustice and racial tension in the United States, and spoke to the importance of organizing in a safe, love-focused, and respectful way.
"I am always proud of and encouraged by our student-athletes' willingness to stand up for what they believe in, and to do so in a safe, effective, and responsible way," said Vice President/Director of Athletics Scott Wetherbee. "Today's demonstration is just another testament to the strong will and convictions that our student-athletes have and are encouraged to embrace during their time at Eastern Michigan. I am proud of our student-athletes, coaches, and staff for their engagement in challenging, albeit beneficial discussions, all while bringing members of the community together to effect positive change."
More on MLK
Information Via the Nobel Prize Organization
Martin Luther King, Jr., (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968), is one of the most famous and influential figures in American history, renowned for his work in both social justice and the progression of equality in the United States. In 1957 he was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization formed to provide new leadership for the now burgeoning civil rights movement. The ideals for this organization he took from Christianity; its operational techniques from Gandhi. In the eleven-year period between 1957 and 1968, King traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty-five hundred times, appearing wherever there was injustice, protest, and action; and meanwhile he wrote five books as well as numerous articles. In these years, he led a massive protest in Birmingham, Alabama, that caught the attention of the entire world, providing what he called a coalition of conscience. and inspiring his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail", a manifesto of the Negro revolution; he planned the drives in Alabama for the registration of Negroes as voters; he directed the peaceful march on Washington, D.C., of 250,000 people to whom he delivered his address, "l Have a Dream", he conferred with President John F. Kennedy and campaigned for President Lyndon B. Johnson; he was arrested upwards of twenty times and assaulted at least four times; he was awarded five honorary degrees; was named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963; and became not only the symbolic leader of American blacks but also a world figure.
At the age of 35, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize. When notified of his selection, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement.
On the evening of April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to lead a protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of that city, he was assassinated.
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- Nearly 100 Eastern Michigan University student-athletes came together for a two-part celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.'s life and legacy today, Jan. 18, in Ypsilanti. Today is MLK Day, a federal holiday which honors the civil rights activist and his efforts to bring forth social change in the United States.
The celebration, which consisted of both an in-person march and virtual panel discussion, began at 1 p.m. in downtown Ypsilanti. Developed and organized by EMU football junior Tariq Speights (Valencia, Calif.-Valenica (College of the Canyons)), the events were open to any members of the Southeast Michigan community.
Convening in downtown Ypsilanti, the first portion of the celebration was a march, put together with the hopes of honoring Dr. King's calls for nonviolent protest of social injustice. With masks on, the student-athletes, and members of the EMU Department of Athletics walked peacefully up and down the main streets in the area, chanting along the way. Numerous business owners and residents stepped out to witness the movement, many of which were supportive.
"Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. used peaceful protests and marches as a way to gather people of all different races, economic statuses, and nationalities to advocate for racial equality," said Speights via his promotional graphic for the event on Twitter. "Our country needs healing, we need love, not more hate."
EMU Head Football Coach Chris Creighton, who also attended the event, added "Our team is full of difference makers, and that was on display today. I am so proud of Tariq's leadership and all of the different members of our team that came together to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr."
Following the march, a virtual panel discussion featuring prominent members of the community was held. Again open to the public, the event featured keynote speakers Pastor Jason Robinson, Minister Celeste Tibbs, and Sheriff Jerry Clayton, of Washtenaw Country. Each addressed the current climate of social injustice and racial tension in the United States, and spoke to the importance of organizing in a safe, love-focused, and respectful way.
"I am always proud of and encouraged by our student-athletes' willingness to stand up for what they believe in, and to do so in a safe, effective, and responsible way," said Vice President/Director of Athletics Scott Wetherbee. "Today's demonstration is just another testament to the strong will and convictions that our student-athletes have and are encouraged to embrace during their time at Eastern Michigan. I am proud of our student-athletes, coaches, and staff for their engagement in challenging, albeit beneficial discussions, all while bringing members of the community together to effect positive change."
More on MLK
Information Via the Nobel Prize Organization
Martin Luther King, Jr., (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968), is one of the most famous and influential figures in American history, renowned for his work in both social justice and the progression of equality in the United States. In 1957 he was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization formed to provide new leadership for the now burgeoning civil rights movement. The ideals for this organization he took from Christianity; its operational techniques from Gandhi. In the eleven-year period between 1957 and 1968, King traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty-five hundred times, appearing wherever there was injustice, protest, and action; and meanwhile he wrote five books as well as numerous articles. In these years, he led a massive protest in Birmingham, Alabama, that caught the attention of the entire world, providing what he called a coalition of conscience. and inspiring his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail", a manifesto of the Negro revolution; he planned the drives in Alabama for the registration of Negroes as voters; he directed the peaceful march on Washington, D.C., of 250,000 people to whom he delivered his address, "l Have a Dream", he conferred with President John F. Kennedy and campaigned for President Lyndon B. Johnson; he was arrested upwards of twenty times and assaulted at least four times; he was awarded five honorary degrees; was named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963; and became not only the symbolic leader of American blacks but also a world figure.
At the age of 35, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize. When notified of his selection, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement.
On the evening of April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to lead a protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of that city, he was assassinated.
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