Community remembers MLK’s message

 

West Bloomfield’s United We Walk turns 13 this year

 

By David Wallace

C & G Staff Writer

     WEST BLOOMFIELD — The community gathered around West Bloomfield High School Jan. 15, as it does on every Martin Luther King Day, and showed that it remembers, values and shares the civil rights leader’s vision.

     Though the West Bloomfield School District does not have school on the holiday, many students spent parts of Jan. 14-15 learning and participating in the many events organized at the school as part of United We Walk XIII.

     Everything centers around the traditional, mile-and-a-half walk along Orchard Lake Road and back to the school. While making its own demonstration of unity, it also recalls the demonstrations that King led.

     “I like the fact that the community comes together, different races come together, to celebrate unity between different races,” said Parris Scott, a junior at West Bloomfield High School, as she walked.

     Assistant Superintendent Steve Wasko said that this year’s participation, as expected, looked a little less than usual. An ice storm hit overnight, encasing trees in a clear shell and causing some school districts that planned to participate to cancel school.

     “But if you look at the fact that a large part of West Bloomfield Township itself is without power this morning, and you still have this commitment of both students and adults to come out on this holiday, that is commitment, indeed.”

Even with fewer people, the march along Orchard Lake Road still looked impressive and stretched much of the way from the school’s parking lot to Walnut Lake Road. Carol and Rachel Warnicke were among those participating.

     “My granddaughter said, ‘Grandma, take me to the march.’ I’ve never been before in all these years,” said Carol. “So she’s opening my eyes.”

     This was 9-year-old Rachel’s second time.               

     “I really liked it last year. It was fun and I wanted to do it again,” she said.

     She easily explained King’s basic message.

     “He fought for the rights of black people, and he thought that you shouldn’t be judged by the color of your skin, but by the person you are inside,” said Rachel.

     A night earlier, people gathered in the high school’s atrium for a candlelight vigil. There they listened to Rwandan journalist Thomas Kamilindi speak to them about the events depicted in the film, “Hotel Rwanda.”

     “His message boiled down to a simple message and a powerful one for the weekend,” said Wasko. “Everyone can make a difference. And he told the story about the hotel and the saving of hundreds of lives as a result of one or two people deciding to take heroic actions. And that’s indeed the message of Dr. King: that you can make a difference. That’s been our message through 13 years of this event.”

     The celebration included many different activities, from music to dialogues to prepared remarks to a teen congress.

     The school’s hall of fame display, showing leaders worldwide who contributed to the cause of human rights, stood out to Scott in the way it showed all different races working for freedom and diversity.

     The Mosaic Acting Company’s performance closed a program in the high school’s auditorium immediately before the walk.

     “It tells you how different races have struggles as well, and how diversity is key. And how in order to better our country, we need to come together, not as different races, but unified,” said Scott.