Today the country celebrates the birth of Martin Luther King Jr. The federal holiday was signed into law in 1983, and was officially observed in all 50 states for the first time in 2000. This year, Shannon Cohen, author and Grand Valley State University alum will be one of the speakers commemorating MLK’S legacy at the university.
“I am excited to be a part of inspiring people to, no matter where they are positioned, to make it not optional for themselves to be part of justice work and justice movements.”
As an alum of GVSU, Cohen says speaking on MLK’S Commemoration is not just a great privilege, but a reminder of where we come from.
“My first week at Grand Valley, the president at the time had sent an email to all the students of color, telling us not to go downtown because there was a Ku Klux Klan rally scheduled for that weekend, and that was baptism into my first weekend as a student at Grand Valley.”
For Cohen, MLK Day incites her not only to celebrate the great leader’s work, and to remember his wife, Coretta Scott King.
“Because I firmly believe there would have been no Dr. King had there not been a Coretta, and often she gets downplayed in the conversations about his life and his work; and so I am also reminded of women, and Black women in particular that served as unsung heroes in the fight of justice.”
Cohen is scheduled to speak on Wednesday at 4:30pm in the Kirkhof Center at GVSU in Allendale, Michigan.
Michelle Jokisch Polo, WGVU News.
