Each year, Martin Luther King Jr. Day serves as a national day of service and activism. This year, Temple’s Office of Institutional Diversity, Equality, Advocacy and Leadership, Temple Athletics and the journalism department hosted a series of events to commemorate the day.
Temple Athletics held a day of service event Monday morning. Students were provided transportation to volunteer at several charities around Philadelphia, including Caring for Friends, a free meal delivery service for seniors.
“Today is all about giving back, giving back to others, helping others, especially those who are the most vulnerable in our society,” said President Richard Englert in a speech to the students volunteering. “That’s what Temple University is all about. That’s how Temple University was founded.”
The Office of Community Affairs and Engagement partnered with the College of Education and Human Development and Temple’s Honors program to host a series of street cleanups in the area surrounding campus starting at 10 a.m. Cleanups were hosted at four locations near campus, including the Mt. Zion United Methodist Church and Norris Homes Community Center.
Temple’s journalism department hosted its seventh annual reading of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech at noon, which King first delivered at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. Journalism professor David Mindich opened the event with brief remarks about the speech.
“These words should anger us,” Mindich said. “We should be angry that the world hasn’t worked hard enough to end racism, police brutality, wealth inequality. So stay angry, stay impatient, but also stay inspired and hopeful and full of love, because this is an urgent message but it’s also a speech about love and hope, and it’s rooted in love.”
Englert then gave a short speech, emphasizing the importance of the reading and thanking the event’s organizers and attendees.
After Englert concluded his remarks, Linn Washington, a journalism professor, spoke about the history of “I Have a Dream” and common misunderstandings about the speech.
“There’s a big problem with the speech, but it’s not the content of the speech, or the character of King either before, during or after his delivery speech,” Washington said. “The problem is, so many who cite one passage of the speech have never read the speech, and if they did they clearly didn’t understand what was going on.”
He explained that many often focus on the dream aspect of the speech, ignoring the struggle and effort that it takes to achieve that dream.
Washington went on to speak of the 2022 Supreme Court landmark decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, drawing parallels between the decision and things King was advocating against in the March on Washington, like racism, police brutality and wealth inequality.
He concluded his speech with a quote from King’s 1965 Independence Day speech saying, “If America is to remain a first-class nation, she can no longer have second-class citizens.”
Former journalism professor Karen Turner followed Washington with a speech urging the audience to continue to take action to support causes important to them year-round.
“If we all do a little something, if we all select something that we’re passionate about, and do something, it doesn’t have to be on a gigantic scale, maybe it’s just talking to your friends, maybe it’s just bringing people together and having a conversation, but we all have a role to play to make this world a much better place,” Turner said.
After Turner’s remarks, Klein College of Media and Communication Assistant Dean David Brown thanked the audience for attending in the cold weather and explained how the speech would be collectively delivered before welcoming Englert back to the microphone to begin the reading.
“This speech embodies Temple, and I am honored to kick it off,” Englert said before reading the opening line.
Attendees lined up behind Englert, each delivering one line from the iconic speech.
The collective delivery of the speech, which has been a part of Temple’s tradition for seven years, is designed to emphasize the importance of each section of the passage and help attendees create a personal connection to the famous text, Brown said.
Attendees took turns delivering the speech line by line until about 12:30 p.m., when Brown concluded the event with a rendition of “We Shall Overcome.”
After the speech reading, IDEAL hosted a brunch and screening of the 2023 film Rustin, which details the life of Bayard Rustin, friend and advisor to King during the Civil Rights Movement. Rustin is portrayed by Colman Domingo, a Temple journalism alumnus.
The screening concluded at about 5 p.m., closing out the university’s commemoration of the holiday.
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