Saturday’s Unity Breakfast at WVU honoring the life and times of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wasn’t so much about the Dream – as it was the ongoing direction of it all.
That was reflected in the young people who were recognized for their service and mission to the betterment of society at the gathering, which is sponsored annually by the university’s Center for Black Culture and Research.
A key quartet of students each were presented scholarships by the center in the name of the slain civil rights leader.
There was Janelle LaBarbera, a senior from Redbank, N.J., who wants to use her entrepreneurship and innovation degree to build up small business in America.
Tysa James, a junior from Fairmont majoring in political science, wants to use that training to affect social change on a big scale.
Cheyenne Torres, who hails from Philadelphia and has a double major in psychology and art therapy, want to use those degrees to ease the emotional angst felt by so many in today’s tumult.
Gabrielle Williams, a Palm Beach, Fla., native in her junior year, wants to use her criminology degree to ensure that justice is served in society.
Sonia-Frida Ndifon, the Dr. Justine A. Burnett Memorial Scholarship recipient from Cameroon, Central Africa, is a second-year medical student who wants to go right back out in the world as a physician tending to underserved communities on both sides of the ocean.
Meet the new boss?
A large audience filled the expanse of the Mountainlair Ballroom two days before Monday’s observance of the Dr. King holiday and the inauguration of Donald Trump, the latter of which set keynote speaker Tiffany Dena Loftin to wondering – even if she didn’t address the incoming president by name.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen Monday,” she said.
Except, she does.
Loftin is an activist and organizer currently leading unionizing efforts of Delta Airlines flight attendants.
Before that, the Los Angeles native who now lives in Atlanta was the national director for the youth and college divisions of the NAACP.
Never mind the coming uncertainty of a contentious president who has been there before, she said.
That means the same for society, she said.
Us, she said.
“We’ve been here before,” Loftin said. “This moment.”
The moment, she said, means not being afraid to engage in what she called “courageous conversations” – even with the people that you maybe already have inherent disagreements.
Which meant, and which means, she said, is that everyone in the room Saturday was an influencer.
And a changemaker and policy setter.
A mom’s love
She pointed to the example of Alberta King, the mother of Martin Luther King Jr., who influenced his ministry and work in civil rights in ways that were righteous and loud, and gentle and softspoken at the same time.
“Martin Luther King didn’t just ‘happen,’” she said.
Ironically, poignantly, Mrs. King was also a victim of gun violence.
She was shot and killed during a service at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church – in the same where her son had made him name and just six years after his murder.
Mrs. King, the church organist, was playing the “Lord’s Prayer,” on Sunday morning, June 30, 1974, when a Black man began yelling and opened fire.
There are still legacies – and legacies to come, she said. Even in the shadow of family tragedy.
“I’m looking at a roomful of future leaders in West Virginia,” she said.
‘And it’s coming from them’
Gregory Epps Sr., the WVU Health Sciences administrator who mentors young people, said the same after receiving the center’s highest recognition for service: the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Achievement Award.
Like Loftin, he talked about the young people he sees daily and the young who turned out for the Unity Breakfast.
“Unity,” was the word, he said.
“There is hope for the future, and it’s coming from them,” he said, nodding over at a table of students.
“Let’s not be divided.”
