On its 33rd anniversary in the state of Wyoming, University of Wyoming students share their perspective on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and its relevance within the campus and greater Laramie communities.
They appear to have mixed feelings surrounding the holiday.
“For me, Martin Luther King Jr. Day represents the celebration of America, and the desire to create greater equity within our society,” said Gabi DeVoogd, former Vice President of Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity for the College Panhellenic Association.
“We are engaged in an ongoing battle for equality and for me, MLK day reminds us of the amount of work still unfinished; our need to create opportunities and foster acceptance for all those marginalized in our society and the world.”
Across the country, MLK Day has been observed for 37 years, with a campaign for the holiday beginning soon after Dr. King’s assassination in 1968. President Ronald Reagan signed the holiday into law in 1983, and the observation of MLK JR.’s birthday officially began 3 years later. By the year 2000, all U.S. states recognized the day as a formal holiday.
“It’s important to recognize marginalized communities, the university has signs all over the place recognizing equality and diversity. From what I’ve recognized, the university does a good job of being very welcoming,” said Dylan Croft, a junior at UW.
Wyoming’s first black woman legislator, Harriett Elizabeth Byrd, who served in the Wyoming House and Senate from 1981-1992, supported a bill 9 different times to make MLK Jr. Day an official state holiday before it was eventually adopted in 1990.
“It is important for our community and communities with people of color to recognize individuals like MLK Jr.” Corbin said, “We don’t recognize people of color as often as we should. It is important to recognize what these people have done for our country.”
MLK Jr. Day is marked every year on the third Monday of January and has been formerly known in some states as ‘Civil Rights Day,’ until it was federally changed in the year 2000. The day remains an important reminder of the advancement of equal rights, but some UW students feel there is a lack of reverence for the holiday in their community.
“I do not think that this holiday is very significant in the Wyoming community,” said Kaylee Hawkins, a senior at UW. “We aren’t a very diverse community in Laramie, and the diversity that does exist lies within the university.”
Though some students suggested UW itself could do more to serve students of color and recognize diversity, Hawkins and Croft mentioned that they cannot have opinions on how the university can better serve students of color, because they themselves are not people of color.
“I think campus is trying to improve equality on campus, but I think there’s a long way to go. Minority groups like people of color and the LGBT community are under-represented and ignored in some cases” said Croft.
“As white people, we don’t have room to respond because we can’t speak for people of color, that would be like trying to speak on behalf of the LGBT community as a straight person.”
