Campus celebrates MLK Day
By Sami Shelton
News Editor
Members of the University of Indianapolis community came together to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 21 in Ransburg Auditorium. The program featured guest speaker and UIndy alumnus Samuel Pieh.
Pieh traveled to Indianapolis from Freetown, Sierra Leone, to share his story with the UIndy campus. Pieh is a direct descendant of the late Sengbe Pieh, a man who started a revolt on the slave ship The Amistad in 1839 to lead his fellow captives to freedom.
Preceding the Martin Luther King Jr. Day program, Steven Spielberg’s “The Amistad: Timeless Values in the Footprints of History” was shown in Ransburg Auditorium on Jan. 20. Samuel Pieh worked as a dialect coach for the film and played a small role.
According to Anne Mejia Downs, assistant professor in the Krannert School of Physical Therapy and a member of the UIndy Multicultural Committee, Pieh traveled to UIndy early in order to be at “The Amistad” showing. He and Black Student Association President Elisha Smith led a question-and-answer session afterward.
On Jan. 21, the MLK Day celebration began with a performance by the UIndy Voices of Worship gospel choir. Paul Washington-Lacey, career services senior associate, led the audience in a welcoming prayer in which he said he hoped that the love, learning, service and tenacity of Dr. King would live on.
UIndy President Beverly Pitts spoke of Dr. King as the “most important and influential iconic figure.” Pitts referred the audience to a YouTube.com video by Mavis Staples entitled “We’ll Never Turn Back”, and explained why she believes that racism still exists in the world today.
“For example, look at Don Imus and the Rutgers women’s basketball team,” Pitts said. “Race can still divide us if we let it, even 40 years after the assassination of Dr. King.”
Director of Human Resources Stant Clark questioned the audience about what Martin Luther King Jr. Day means to them. He also spoke of ridding America of social and economic injustice.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” Clark said.
Downs recognized all the people who made the event possible before introducing Pieh to the audience.
“It was an honor to introduce the speaker,” Downs said. “He is doing so much for Sierra Leone by taking his education from UIndy to make a difference.”
Pieh used his speech to tell of his current role as assistant director of the Christian Health Association in Sierra Leone. He spoke about the missions of health and sanitation in the CHA and about the living conditions in Sierra Leone, which left the audience wondering what it all had to do with The Amistad and MLK Day.
“This all ties together through friendship,” Pieh said. “Friendliness accomplishes big things.”
Pieh ended his speech with Dr. King’s famous “I Have A Dream” speech.
Smith was asked to speak about what MLK Day means to her as a student’s perspective to the program. She recalled her own visit to the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., where Dr. King was assassinated. Smith also recited a poem hat she wrote entitled “Image.”
“What became of that dream?” Smith said. “What image do you choose to be?”
According to Smith, she attended a meeting with Pieh, members of the Multicultural Committee and students and faculty traveling to Sierra Leone as part of a spring term service learning trip. Pieh gave information and insight about what to expect on the spring term trip.
That evening, members of the UIndy faculty participated in a special MLK Day Faculty Artists Series performance in Ruth Lilly Performance Hall in the Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center. The performance showcased music composed by famous African-American artists.
According to Smith and Downs, the Multicultural Committee would like to host more events like the MLK Day program.
“Being Latina and a minority myself, I would like to see more cultural events for all ethnicities,” Downs said. “We would like to expand and do more in collaboration with the student organizations to have more student involvement.”
