Today we celebrate an individual who led the fight for civil rights at a pivotal time for our country. Martin Luther King Jr.’s contributions to the world rightfully merit this day of remembrance and reflection.
When we take the time to reflect on our past as a society, we do a better job at understanding individuals within the context of their societies.
MLK is certainly an example. Maybe he more than other figure has seen his legacy co-opted by almost every mainstream movement, regardless of politics, ignoring what we know to be true of MLK.
Here at UNC, we see the same thing just in a slightly different way. Read the comment section of a DTH article on activism, and you’ll see it. People showing up to say that back in their day things were better, students didn’t act out or organize controversial forms of protest. This helps build the narrative of a “southern part of heaven” where nothing is ever wrong, but is patently ahistorical.
The activism taking place on campus has roots in UNC’s past. Hopefully anyone reading this can agree that cultural movements are not spontaneously created.
The oft repeated example of the Speaker Ban of the early 1960s which shows that the fight over free speech on this campus is nothing new. In 1937, UNC students in the Carolina Political Union tried to bring the revolutionary Leon Trotsky to campus when he was not allowed to even enter the country.
While it is impossible to name every cause ever advocated for on this campus, UNC students have protested David Duke speaking on campus in the 1970s, apartheid in the 1980s and today students are fighting against institutionalized racism and ending its glorification on campus. Removing modern activism from a larger legacy of action is ahistorical. Colleges are overwhelmingly hubs of activism and political action — and not limited to just one ideology. We should look to foster and encourage young, idealistic people to improve the faults of our society.
On the first day of classes last semester, a large-scale protest appeared to be that big hallmark event that would lead to change at UNC — the removal of Silent Sam. Thousands showed up, it garnered national news attention and forced every corner of the UNC community to ask “should we remove Silent Sam?”
Unfortunately that protest did not lead to Silent Sam’s removal. We’re still waiting on that to happen. Once Silent Sam comes down, the fight will continue here at UNC and a new generations of Tar Heels will inherit the legacy of UNC activism.
