Martin Luther King Day started early at Northwestern this year: As long as a week ago, the planning committee was putting up banners around campus that asked students, faculty and staff to write their responses to the question “What would MLK Jr. say about race relations at NU?” It was just the kind of political probing that “apathetic” Northwestern students get a reputation for evading, but some still refused to budge. There was the guy at Norris who pleaded, “Chill out dudes…” (channeling MLK’s peace agenda?), and a more long-winded commentator who derailed the entire conversation in classic PC-style, saying, “I think focusing on Race draws more attention to segregation and actually creates more segregation.” Apparently Bobb-McCulloch’s answer to everything is “This is gay.”
One thing no one could agree on, of course, was what Martin Luther King Jr. represented in the first place. Two commenters quibbled over whether he would support affirmative action today. (Though he’s known for “I Have a Dream,” King’s writings toward the end of his life emphasized a need to redistribute wealth in order to correct racial and social injustices.) Arguably the biggest success of King, the ultimate march organizer, was using public consciousness itself as a solvent for America’s race problems, and the notes around campus reflect that ideal. On paper, Martin Luther King Day celebrates a single person, but in most ways King’s name has become a vague synonym for racial progress. Asking “What would MLK Jr. say about race relations at NU?” is more like asking “What do you think about race relations at NU?” Which is the question that’s really worth asking, anyway.
Maybe most of us feel better about sleeping in on Monday than seeing the former U.S. Secretary of Labor speak at 11 a.m., but judging by their black Sharpie notes, Northwestern still has no shortage of rants about this “overprivileged,” “self-segregating,” yet nonetheless diverse little bubble where we should be “proud to see the opportunity afforded to so many more people of color.” Here are some of the things people had to say:
