Community members commemorated the life and work of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday, Jan. 15, with speeches and calls to continue volunteer service.
About 300 people packed Sehome High School starting at 10 a.m. Monday, first enjoying a free breakfast to the sounds of the Westshore Canoe Family Singers, then listening to speakers and music at the MLK Day celebration. The event was billed as a day of “service, gratitude and community.”
Brian Young, Sehome’s football coach and a teacher at Squalicum High School and Sehome High School, jointly delivered the keynote address with Isabella McFrazier, a Western Washington University freshman and Sehome graduate who created the high school’s Young Multiracial Society.
Young and McFrazier discussed their experiences of being in Bellingham and how they’ve worked to make change.
McFrazier said she started Sehome’s Young Multiracial Society, a club for “students and staff of color to come together and build community,” because that space didn’t exist at the school.
“I hope that every student of color who walks into Sehome in the years following me feels a sense of pride and safety when they see that there is a space for them to be held with each other,” she said.
Young said he chooses to use his voice and position in education to “uplift” young men and women. He said while there continues to be great injustice against Black people, he celebrates the “small victories.”
“Steps in the right direction need to be celebrated,” he said. “Are we there yet? No, we’re not there yet. But we’re moving in the right direction.”
Young added that marginalized communities must be given the opportunity to move further in the right direction.
“If you are the status quo, if you are the majority, if you are the one in charge, nobody who is being held under that can get better until you step aside and give them a space,” he said.
Young emphasized that conversations about race should be more common.
“This is not a tough conversation,” he said. “This just takes some damn character. So, stand up, be accountable as a human being and open the dialogue.”
McFraizer encouraged attendees to participate in service work not only today, but every day.
“Your service is the way that you treat people around you, as well as what you do in your community,” McFrazier said. “When you leave your house every day, how do you treat people who look different from you? How do you bring people up with you instead of stepping on people to get where you need to be?”
After the event, community members had the chance to put together kits for homeless people, make blankets and clean up the winter shelter at Civic Field.
Nia Gipson, coordinator of the Black Student Coalition at Western, said they chose to do service projects to serve homeless community members due to the clear need right now.
Leo Curtis, a Western senior and employee of the WHOLE Food Pantry on campus, said community members put together 100 homeless kits Monday to bring to Road2Home, the agency that runs a winter shelter. The kits included water, snacks, socks, first-aid kits, hats, gloves, a space blanket and more. Volunteers also made 46 tie-together blankets for homeless people.
Gipson said the turnout made her feel “overwhelmed with joy.”
“It was beautiful to just look out and see the seats filled and folks sitting on the stairways and in the aisle,” she said. “Even with the cold weather, folks were very intentional about coming here and deciding to make a difference and honor the legacy and life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I am very grateful.”
The event was organized by the Community Consortium for Cultural Recognition, a group including members from Bellingham Technical College, Bellingham Public Schools, Children of the Setting Sun Productions, the City of Bellingham, Northwest Indian College, PeaceHealth, the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, Western Washington University and Whatcom Community College.
A previous version of this story misstated the number of blankets made at this event. The story was updated to reflect this change at 10:42 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 18. Cascadia Daily News regrets this error.
