On Jan. 28, 2022, speeches were given by students from the Black Student Union (BSU) at West Texas A&M University in commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. King is well known for his dream of making sure everyone was on an equal footing.

A main part of the event was a discussion on students’ dreams. The Vice President of the Black Student Union, Tearanee’ Lockhart, a junior broadcast journalism major, discussed one of her dreams during the event.

“My dream is to always be an advocate for whatever space I enter and to make sure I am progressing my spaces into the right side of history,” Lockhart said.

Martin Luther King Jr. had a fondness for dreams. He is known for his “I Have a Dream” speech that has inspired many. Dr. King’s dedication to making his dream come true is part of what has brought progression to society in terms of racial equality.

“I think, without his contributions, we would be nowhere near where we are today,” Lockhart said.

After discussing how far we still have to go as a society in terms of racial equality, Lockhart revealed a meme she received during the speeches. Someone in the audience had AirDropped the meme to Lockhart’s phone.

“It was like, ‘Yeah this is cool, but why do we care?’” Lockhart said.

The AirDropped message was a meme photo with an image of a black boy, which demonstrated a lack of appreciation for the speech. This is just an example of how we still have a long way to go in terms of progress.

Angela Allen, chief diversity and inclusion officer at WT, spoke of how Martin Luther King Jr. might be surprised by the current state of food insecurity in the U.S.

“[Dr. King] wanted everybody to have a decent place to live and, right now, we are experiencing so many people with food insecurities, so many people that can’t afford education,” Allen said.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a time to celebrate the accomplishments of Dr. King, but also to continue to look at ourselves and see how we can be advocates for change and improve our society.