Classes were canceled on Jan. 20 to celebrate and honor the life of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. There were over a dozen events on campus, as well as opportunities to celebrate King’s legacy with JMU and Bridgewater, participate in service projects, and take a trip to Historic Anacostia in Washington DC. This second annual MLK Day celebration was not only a way to remember King; it was a day of action, a day of getting into good trouble.
“Good trouble,” a term coined by U.S. Representative John Lewis, was the central idea of Dr. Jalane Schmidt’s keynote address delivered during convocation Monday morning. Schmidt, who is both a religious studies professor at the University of Virginia and an activist, discussed the good trouble she and last year’s MLK Day keynote speaker, Reverend Sekou, helped create by joining the anti-racist protests in Charlottesville during the white supremacist Unite the Right rally in 2017. She discussed the extensive and challenging work that goes into social activism. Despite resistance from the government, the alt-right, the police department, and many religious communities in Charlottesville, Schmidt and other activists led Black Lives Matter protests to resist white supremacy and to get into good trouble.
EMU created good trouble on MLK Day, especially during Monday’s student panel composed of JD Richardson, Maya Dula, Earnest Kiah, and Kiara Kiah. Together they answered questions from the audience and discussed racism on campus. Richardson, Co-President of EMU’s Black Student Alliance and a member of the MLK Jr. Committee, said the panel was the highlight of MLK Day for him because the participants did not hold anything back, and panelists’ experiences were well-received in the sizable audience. BSA is also planning a town hall, in which students will again have the opportunity to share their stories and concerns about any pressing social issues on campus.
Richardson, a vital organizer for MLK Day, notes that the fight to cancel classes for this day was “years in the making.” Richardson has firm beliefs on why taking this time is necessary at EMU: “MLK was a peacebuilder… he follows in the ways of Jesus… this day needs to be off in order to take on what it means to be like MLK.”
The need to make good trouble does not end on Jan. 20. Richardson urges everyone at EMU to be advocates of equality and peace and to keep our peers consistently accountable when it comes to calling out racism. He also encourages everyone to learn to be comfortable in uncomfortability. “The fight for peace, equality, and love is uncomfortable … learn how to be uncomfortable and accept that it is part of growing.”
Dr. Schmidt believes this uncomfortability is, in fact, difficult for most. In her keynote address, she claims that people are, by nature, conservative when it comes to standing up for social issues. While some people think they would have been marching with Dr. King in the 60s, Schmidt argues that whatever one is doing now, at this moment, is what they would have been doing then. Hence, if someone is not involved in activism and speaking up in the present time, then they likely would not have been present during the march on Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma with King.
Good trouble is not limited to marching on the front lines. Jalane Schmidt noted how the elderly women baking casseroles, and her daughter babysitting for activists, all played their part in making the anti-racist protests happen, but one must get involved in some fashion in order to be advocates of peace, equality, and love.
Schmidt believes young people are overrepresented in social movements; they have more energy and, professionally speaking, may have less to lose. In the convocation, she begged students to find a place to plug in and lead others in social change. “You’re morally on the hook; you know better; you go to EMU; they’re teaching you this stuff.”
As EMU’s second annual MLK Day is wrapped up, the hope and challenge to the EMU community is that the seeds planted on Jan. 20 will continue to grow, fostering new practices and visions on campus. Schmidt’s words will continue to echo: “Getting in good trouble is what can bring change because it’s the best hope we have.”
