{"id":67240,"date":"2017-01-17T18:06:49","date_gmt":"2017-01-18T01:06:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/at-fort-lewis-college-march-events-mark-martin-luther-king-jr-day\/"},"modified":"2017-01-18T01:06:49","modified_gmt":"2017-01-18T01:06:49","slug":"at-fort-lewis-college-march-events-mark-martin-luther-king-jr-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/at-fort-lewis-college-march-events-mark-martin-luther-king-jr-day\/","title":{"rendered":"At Fort Lewis College, march, events mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><!-- gallery:d9cdc9a4-32e3-45d4-b1c0-6ff6060dae56 --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video wp-block-embed-youtube naviga-video-embed\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vCNEt0mhwdM\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>A light snow began to fall as nearly 200 people took part in Fort Lewis College\u2019s annual March of Solidarity for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the theme of which was \u201chow do we carry on Dr. King\u2019s mission in a time of great divide?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t think of any span in my lifetime when the country has not been divided,\u201d said Ken Walker, 63, who is a junior at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fortlewis.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">FLC<\/a>. \u201cBut, right now, it\u2019s as deep as it\u2019s ever been.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Around 12:15 p.m. Monday, students and others gathered at the <a href=\"https:\/\/swcenter.fortlewis.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Center of Southwest Studies<\/a> and marched through the campus and, as is customary, sang the popular protest song \u201cWe Shall Overcome.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The march ended inside the Student Union Building, where the FLC Choir performed James Taylor\u2019s song \u201cShed A Little Light.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Then, during an open forum at the Student Union, participants were challenged to answer the theme of the rally: How can the country heal after one of the most divisive presidential election in recent memory?<\/p>\n<p>Walker, who called president-elect Donald Trump the antithesis of what King stood for, said the country must hold to King\u2019s ideals of non-violent activism and continued respect in the face of hate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is more strength in love than we can even begin to fathom,\u201d Walker said.<\/p>\n<p>FLC President Dene Thomas refused to directly acknowledge Trump\u2019s most recent public attack on Rep. John Lewis, a celebrated civil-rights activist who received a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas did, however, call Lewis an \u201cAmerican hero\u201d and \u201cmoral leader,\u201d who has embodied and carried on King\u2019s mission well into the 21st century while representing Georgia\u2019s 5th congressional district for 30 years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd during that time, he has promoted a number of bills in favor of civil rights,\u201d said Thomas, adding Lewis promoted a bill that provides tuition assistance to Native Americans, which is applicable to FLC students.<\/p>\n<p>Brandon Francis, a 2015 FLC graduate who is Native American, said he grew up inspired by King\u2019s words. He said his current work \u2013 uncovering the past agricultural practices of ancient Native American tribes \u2013 reflects those ideals.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe way we can carry forth his mission is to connect with our culture,\u201d Francis said. \u201cWe\u2019ve lost that connection in modern times, and a lot of environmental justice issues stem from that. We need to come together and build bonds of kinship.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Beverly Grant, a guest speaker on food justice who works at Denver\u2019s Mo Betta Green Marketplace, said the best way to carry on King\u2019s mission is to build relationships.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt takes building relationships to build a movement,\u201d Grant said. \u201cI\u2019ve found food can be a connection point that brings us together. When you share a meal with someone, you can break barriers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Two food justice workshops were held later in the afternoon at the college. At 6 p.m., a presentation called \u201cFood and Power\u201d was held, which featured speakers Grant, Francis and Mike Nolan of the National Young Farmers Coalition.<\/p>\n<p>One speaker ended with a quote from King.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn a real sense, all life is inter-related. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em class=\"mwc_shirttail\"><a href=\"mailto:jromeo@durangoherald.com\">jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>how to carry on his mission in a time of division<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":67241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[132,13,316],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-67240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-fort-lewis-college","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-video"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67240"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=67240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}