The Ashland Center for Nonviolence (ACN) invited the community and Ashland University students to celebrate the day of Martin Luther King Jr. at the Jack and Deb Miller Chapel.

The event included a speech by Reverend Marvin McMickle, who at a young age marched alongside King as well as shared his beliefs.

McMickle is the president of Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School in Rochester, New York.

Previous to that, he served as pastor of Antioch Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio for about 25 years.

McMickle narrated sad anecdotes about the reality of African Americans in the time that Martin Luther King Jr. was alive. He told the audience how his wife needed to walk to her school since African Americans were not allowed to ride in buses. He also mentioned that his great grandmother died in the hands of slavery. McMickle not only discussed the injustices of African Americans, but also mentioned the massacre of Native Americans in the Mississippi river in 1930.

“I hope this talk is making you uncomfortable,” said McMickle. “I hope that hearing these stories makes you wish that I had not come.”

McMickle reminded the audience that the fight against racism and equality is far from being over.

Among the audience was Peter Slade, a professor of religion at AU, who came along with his daughter to honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. He shared a similar thoughts with McMickle about this issue.

“I would hope that people have a strong sense that King’s work is still important and his work is as relevant today as it was in the past and also that there is work for all of us to do,” said Slade

McMickle was speaking with emotion and fervor to help people remember America’s past, as well as to challenge them to work for a better future.

McMickle raised the question, “I wonder what would you do for the cause of freedom of tomorrow?”

Kailah Sanders, a junior at AU, was not sure how to answer McMickle’s question.

“That was a challenging question because I really sat there and thought hard about ways that I could help,” said Sanders. “I guess one step at a time as we can start talking to other different races and just inform more or having small gatherings.”

One way to battle racism is through education and spreading awareness at a young age. At the beginning of the event, awards were given to the winners of the art and essay contest held by ACN.

Students from Ashland and Richland counties were invited to discuss topics about living in peace through their art and writing.

Anika Sampson was one of the winners of the art contest. She has a concept about peace that seems very simple, but somehow society has managed to make it complicated.

“It is like helping one another like in my art piece,” said Sampson. “Everybody is holding a picture that they all drew and they are supposed to be from different places of the world.”