As Dartmouth approached President's Day, I was startled that not a single event or speaker was planned. No banner had gone up above Main Street and no classes were canceled. From the College's perspective, it is as though the day does not exist at all. There is a sharp and poignant contrast to be found when one thinks of the endless activities and emails informing students of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
In fact, it is incorrect for us to simply look at that day, for the speakers, seminars and various other events held in King's honor spanned over a good two or three weeks. But where are the endless emails from every possible office on campus talking about their President's Day celebrations? I have yet to find one in my inbox.
King did a great thing for this country. Segregation and gross social inequalities perpetrated on the grounds of race were a disgrace to the very idea of meritocracy on which the United States is built. The work that King did to help abolish those evils should not go unrecognized. However, in juxtaposing the atmosphere on campus during President's Day and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, it becomes apparent just how much the latter is a political tool.
As every group on campus sought to revel in warm and fuzzy political correctness, it seemed the day was less about King and more about institutions trying to outdo each other in a show of their utter compassion, tolerance and solidarity with the "black community." Can a black student not be just as proud on President's Day as he or she might be on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day?
Personally, I am offended by the assumption that a "black community" should more passionately celebrate and be more involved with a holiday simply because the historic figure is black. I feel neither extra pride in George Washington because he was white, nor any less proud of King because he was black.
When I was younger, before I fully became aware of the idea of race, my views were without color when viewing these holidays. It is this sort view to which we must return. To go forward, we must go back.
Last year, while studying at Cornell University, I had a black friend from Jamaica who presented an interesting perspective on the racial situation on American college campuses. It seems that he discovered, as many might upon reflecting for a moment, that there is an inherent contradiction in minority groups uniting around their race, often to decry racial tensions and perceived racism. Uniting as a racial group may achieve many things, but ameliorating racial tensions is often not one of them.
In another incident around Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the Baker-Berry Library book arts program had the audacity to post the highly inappropriate and inflammatory work of the visiting artist, Amos Kennedy. Working to ostensibly promote "freedom and equality," Kennedy created posters with broad, sweeping generalities, going so far as to accuse the whole state of Alabama of being racist.
Last time I checked, such broad and sweeping generalities were the very foundations of racism. Is this how we celebrate the life of a man like King who worked toward true equality and diminishing racial tension?
As President's Day has come and gone without so much as a single email regarding campus recognition, I am left with feelings of confusion and consternation. Does President's Day serve no political agenda and so for this reason is omitted from Dartmouth's activities? What does this say about how the College views other holidays?
King once said, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." And so I, too, have a dream; a dream of the day when Martin Luther King, Jr. Day can be less about race, and more about how a man helped a nation come together as one.
