MBU Honors MLK Day

The annual Martin Luther King Jr. Service for Peace and Justice, which MBU usually sponsors for the Staunton community, was not possible due to the pandemic this year. Community members instead gathered across their screens for a virtual service featuring testimonials, scripture readings, songs, prayers, and more in honor of King. 

Jade Doswell ’20, MS ’22  has been involved with Mary Baldwin’s King Service every year since she was a first year undergrad. An anthropology/sociology major, she is continuing her studies at MBU in the master’s program in higher education with a focus on diversity and inclusion.

“Celebrating this tradition at MBU allows me to honor Dr. Martin Luther King’s fight for racial justice and equality, and use my God-given talents to celebrate equality and acknowledge that the fight is not over,” said Doswell, who contributed a praise dance to “Oh, Freedom” for the King service today. “Dr. Martin Luther King and other activists’ legacies are continuing through these holidays. These legacies give hope and encouragement to fight for basic human rights that America has deprived people of color and minorities.”

Reverend Jazmine Brooks ’16, program director for the Office of Inclusive Excellence at MBU, delivered the sermon on connections between a verse from the Book of Amos — “Let justice roll down like a river, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” — and King’s work, urging the congregation to do their part to transform lives, communities, and systems through love, risk-taking, and resistance. 

Jelani Meyer ’22, English major and president of the Black Student Alliance at MBU, studied King’s writings and speeches in the MBU course on Martin Luther King and a Philosophy of Civil Rights. He is drawn to the practice of Agape, which, to quote King, is the “understanding, redeeming goodwill for all men” and “an overflowing love which is purely spontaneous, unmotivated, groundless, and creative.” 

“I try to actively exercise Agape every day of my life, in order to not only sustain my own personal relationships,”  said Meyer, “but also to show that there is strength that comes from being someone who can love all of the time, and continue to do so even when it isn’t being given back.” 

Two virtual workshops on race-based trauma and effective allyship were also held today for the MBU community, one geared toward faculty, staff, and student ambassadors, and the other toward students. Clinical psychologist Boderick Sawyer facilitated the sessions, sharing his expertise in race-based stress and trauma, mindfulness, and compassion. 

A campus-wide food drive is underway to support the Valley Mission in Staunton and help combat food insecurity in the community, especially with the context of economic hardship caused by the pandemic.

The Spencer Center for Civic Engagement makes connections between King’s speeches and MBU’s 2020–21 university-wide theme of courage with the project “Dr. King: The Courage to Speak.” It features members of the MBU community reading excerpts of King’s writings across a wide range of topics. A link to the project can be found in the MBU daily announcements email all this week.