Editors Note: This article has been updated since publication to correct and include accurate information regarding a source's position title.
Bellingham High School celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 18, 2025. Western Washington University participated in the celebrations by providing money to fund some of the groups sponsoring the event’s budget.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is a celebrated figure across the United States. His “I Have a Dream” speech is regarded as legendary, and his advocacy for non-violent protest earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
The event started at 10 a.m. with a free breakfast. At 11:00 a.m., the celebrations turned to a discussion about King’s actions. Finally, at noon, the event started the national day of service.
The Community Consortium for Cultural Recognition sponsored the event. The celebration’s theme was “United We Stand: Where Justice, Love, and Freedom Prevail.” When asked how the Consortium chose this theme, Deborah Bineza, strategic initiatives manager for the Bellingham mayor’s office, said that they had taken inspiration from the King Center.
Chris Roselli, the director of community relations at WWU, was tasked with coordinating Western’s MLK Day event in 2020, saying that the event was great.
However, he said, “I’m a big believer that we can do more together.” He said he contacted neighboring colleges asking them if they had done an MLK Day event, and in finding that some had, he thought to combine the shared resources of these schools.
MLK Day is the only holiday in the United States that is considered a day of service, where people are encouraged to go out and help their communities.
“The foundation of the events started around MLK Day of Service,” said Janis Velasquez Farmer, director of equity, diversity and inclusion for Bellingham Public Schools. “That’s a great foundation to have, and with that foundation, we were able to think about how community groups can not only benefit from the event but how do we all contribute to the event. I think that’s what expands us as a community.”
Deborah Bineza, strategic initiatives manager for the Bellingham mayor’s office, said that celebrating MLKDay has been a long standing tradition in Bellingham.
WWU Black Student Coalition Coordinator Nia Gipson was involved in the planning portion of the MLK Day celebrations as a co-lead for the Community Consortium’s planning committee — her third year of being in the Consortium.
The MLK Day celebrations were appropriate for this year, according to Gipson.“It’s important to remember who Dr. King was and what his legacy is, so I think it’ll always be appropriate and stand the test of time because he really speaks about community and how we care for one another,” she said.
Not everyone believes that the celebrations will do a lot of good if they don’t address the underlying issues that Dr. King championed. WWU Associate Professor Dr. Lisa Beard, happy to see that one of the festivities would include a discussion on these topics, said that economic justice, racial justice and anti-imperialism are all central to King’s political thought.
“These intersecting themes are so often excised when images of King are mobilized in popular memory, and that erasure matters politically,” Dr. Beard said.
Roman Boyer (he/him) is a campus news reporter for The Front this quarter. He is a political science major and a journalism news/ed minor. When he’s not reporting, you can find him hanging out with his friends and watching TikToks. You can reach him at romanboyer.thefront@gmail.com.
