King's work in civil rights movement helps all races, cultures

Being a leader for all people, communicating and mobilizing a community are just a few of Martin Luther King Jr.’s lessons being put to good use by student organizations across campus, despite race or culture.

“I don’t see myself as just a minority student leader on campus,” said Desiree Tucker, political affairs director of the Black Student Alliance.

“I see myself as a leader for all students.”

Student leaders at MSU are united in their belief that civil rights is a movement to benefit all people.

Dreux Baker, a student leader for The Multi-Racial Unity Living Experience-South, or MRULE, said the group works to unite people by creating a dialogue to dispel stereotypes.

“Most people forget that the civil rights movement was all these different people who came together to work toward a common goal,” Baker said.

“It was for the benefit of everyone.”

One of the major challenges in uniting a community is communication and combating stereotypes.

Often, education and exposure are the best way to introduce a person to a new culture, lifestyle or way of thinking, said Ruba Farah, president of the Arab Cultural Society. She explained her group’s goal is to dispel stereotypes and raise awareness of Arab culture.

“With all the trouble in the Middle East, it’s very easy for people to stereotype,” Farah said.

As a nonreligious and nonpolitical student organization, the goal is simply to educate and celebrate the Arab culture.

Chen Wang, co-chairwoman of MSU Women’s Council, said her organization faces challenges with stereotypical notions of feminists.

“There’s these ideas that as a feminist you hate men,” Wang said.

Her organization chooses to address these stereotypes by sponsoring events with other campus groups to raise awareness of women’s issues like the upcoming “Vagina Monologues” and Take Back The Night program.

Mobilizing the community presents a unique challenge for student leaders on campus.

Katie Ozog, a student leader for MRULE South, said King’s ability to engage a community and lead by example is an important lesson for any community leader.

She explained that one of MRULE’s major goals is to engage the community at the campus level.

By working locally, it is easier to address small problems immediately and also gener ate interest in issues of a more global scope.

Part of being a leader is learning to walk the walk, she said.

“What you do and say has a huge impact on people that you don’t even realize,” Ozog said.

Community engagement presents a unique challenge and opportunity to the modern equal rights movement. Andrew Sharp, vice president of 
SPECTRUM, the LBGT caucus representing the east side of campus, said getting the LBGT community and the rest of the student body was one of the main goals of his organization.

“Equal rights movements need to reach out to allies in the whole community to succeed,” Sharp said.

An important aspect of King’s legacy for today’s campus leaders is as an enduring symbol of hope — a symbol that represents the power of hard work and passion to create change, Tucker said.

“He was one man among many fighting for the justice and equality of all people,” Tucker said.

MLK Day will be celebrated with marches, conferences and community service in remembrance of all the sacrifices made to make the world a safer, more accepting place to be different.

It also will be a day to reassess the challenges still facing the country on the path to equal rights.

“It’s a day off school, not a day off work,” Baker said.