On January 20, 2020, students, faculty and staff gathered in the auditorium for the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Assembly. This year the assembly was led by five upperclassmen: Cam ’20, Tibi ‘ 21, Kemkem ’20, Genze 20’, and Jamarya ’20, all of whom are members of the Cultural Awareness Club on campus. The five women spoke of the importance of Dr. King and how there is still so much work to do. Cam 20’ pointed out that it took 32 years for all 50 states to acknowledge the day as a national holiday.  All spoke about the importance of doing small things in your daily life to help to end racism, from being kind to other students to not appropriating African American culture.  

While we might say, those things aren’t my fault or I can’t change systemic racism, think about every n-word you drop because it’s not a hard R or it’s in a song, or every time you touch someone’s hair like it’s a petting zoo, or see something and say “that’s so ghetto, ratchet and hood.” Today is a day of celebration, but it is also a day of reflection and introspection. Please think about what you are doing to continue Dr. King’s legacy and how to prevent the progression we see from becoming regression. - Cam '20

During the week, to continue to honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr, the Cultural Awareness club held a clothing drive for the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center located in Newport, RI. Watch the entire assembly below as well as the HBO documentary “King in the Wilderness,” which was shown at assembly and explores the final chapters of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life before his assassination in 1968.