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Thanks to Episcopal’s Office of Community and Equity (OCE), our community has enjoyed ten years of MLK Symposia, annual campus-wide initiatives designed to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and celebrate his legacy and ideals. This year’s theme was “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?,” taken from the titular — and timely — query of Dr. King’s final book. 

One highlight of this year’s program was Sunday’s Vespers service, featuring Alexandria Mayor Alyia Gaskins and guest conductor Dr. Ollie Watts Davis of the University of Illinois. Mayor Gaskins empowered students with an emphasis on their own agency.  Participation is essential, she told students, even when they feel they might not know what to do or where to start. “Dr. King didn’t teach us to sit around and hope for change,” she said. “He said that we have to be the ones to do something about it.”

Although playing a role can feel intimidating and overwhelming, Mayor Gaskins noted that community is the answer. Thus, she encouraged students to abandon their fears and rely on their strengths to promote a just world, like Dr. King and the many whom he inspired: “Whether you can write, speak, dance, move — whatever your God-given talent may be, we need it in this moment in order to create a world we know each of us deserves. And we don’t have to have all the answers, because we don’t have to do it alone.”

Following the mayor’s remarks, Episcopal enjoyed beautiful musical offerings from the community gospel choir, led by Davis. On Monday, the community packed 40,000+ meals for Rise Against Hunger, and then attended an interactive presentation with At The Table With Dr. King, lunch based on “The Meal That Never Was,” and afternoon workshops designed to foster community-building leadership.

Thank you to the OCE for ten powerful years of honoring Dr. King’s important legacy. View photos from the day on our Flickr page.