Daily Iowan

Issue date: 1/24/08 Section: 80 Hours

With fresh coffee brewing in the kitchen, nine people of different faiths streamed into the Asian Pacific American Cultural Center the morning of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Removing heavy winter coats and shaking snow off their shoes, the guests greeted one another as close friends might.

They sat stocking-footed around the living room of the house nibbling on bagels and sipping from steaming hot mugs. Flipping through photographs of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. before a backdrop of steady, silent snowfall, Motier Haskins began the discussion.

The Human Rights week committee chair posed a few theoretical questions to the group of religious and non religious leaders - Jewish, Muslim, Christian, agnostic - from around the area about promoting King's message between faiths. The group proceeded slowly, but the conversation soon eased into a continuous exchange of thoughts on how to promote their shared desire for civil justice.

This scene from Monday's Interfaith Dialogue Breakfast envelops the Human Rights Week's goal of promoting an ongoing discourse between people of all backgrounds. By building relationships within the community through a variety of events, the week's planners aim to broadly connect people of all cultures to King's message. That vision instills tolerance and a "beloved community" woven together through its differences.


'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.' - Martin Luther King Jr.


For the committee members and various sponsors of the UI Human Rights Week, which began on Jan. 15 and continues through Jan. 30, bringing the Baptist minister's message to an audience as diverse as Iowa City's meant offering a broad selection of activities to represent it. The week is comprised of choral groups, poetry readings, potlucks, discussions, film screenings, and a whole host of other events.

"In a university campus environment, we have the opportunity for interaction that you wouldn't find elsewhere," said Gerald Sorokin, the director of the Hillel Foundation.

King's dream covered more than simply racial equality, and Human Rights Week strives to include all the issues in which that dream was manifest: such as the protection against misuse of stereotypes, the freedom to practice the religion of one's own choosing, and the inherent need for impartiality in health care.

Various films will be screened around campus, illuminating a few of these manifestations. The film Salud! documents the battle for global health care as demonstrated in Cuba. This screening starts at 5 p.m. today in 347 IMU.

"Even though there are options for health-care access doesn't mean it's affordable here," said Jackie Leung-Heras, a graduate student in the College of Public Health. A frightening 9 percent of Iowans do not have access to health care. "One of the goals of public health is social activism and promoting social justice and human rights. The disparity in health care is a human-rights issue, but equal access to that also has an international perspective."

Las Mujeres de la Caucus Chicana, playing today at 7:30 p.m. at the Iowa City Public Library, documents six Latinas involved in the 1977 National Women's Political Caucus. It tells the stories of their efforts to pioneer rights for other Latinas.

"The theme of Human Rights Week is to explore diversity in its many forms and hold up people who have served as role models," said Linda Kroon, the operations coordinator for the Women's Resource and Action Center. "The women featured in this film were a force to be reckoned with in the '60s and '70s. It's important to honor the people who have advanced the cause of widening the circle."


'Freedom is not free'


When UI theater Associate Professor Tisch Jones celebrates the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, she draws on something richer than textbook history. For her, the day represents a tapestry of experiences.

Drawing upon her activities during the civil-rights movement, 59-year-old Jones will present a one-woman play, "I've Got Something to Say: A Black Woman's Sonata" tonight at 8 p.m. in Theatre B of the Theatre Building.

She participated in civil-rights demonstrations with her mother in South Carolina as a teen. As a result of her activism, she was sent to jail seven times before she turned 16, sometimes spending up to five days in incarceration. Separated from her mother, she was sent to the Pink Castle, a jail for juveniles.

The young civil-rights activist was not always aware of injustice. It was not until her father's death, when she was 6, that she truly became aware of the realities of segregation. She and her mother traveled the country after her father died, a difficult task for those labeled "colored." During that time, Jones attended 11 different segregated schools in Louisiana, Tennessee, Texas, and South Carolina.

But it was when she was 16 and moved to Iowa City in 1964 that she experienced her most difficult realizations. Integrated for the first time, she felt the self-confidence-destroying effect of being an outsider as one of only six black students at City High.

Her piece examines civil-rights issues today and asks a daring question: Was the civil-rights movement worth it? To her, observing the King holiday requires not only honor but also a hard look at what America is like today.

"To me, [the day] is part of what I did," she said. "I celebrate the strides we've made [but also recognize] the problems we still have."

The idea for her play stemmed from an encounter she had with her 15-year-old grandson that left her in shock.

"He said to me, 'I don't like black girls,' " Jones said. "This is not what we fought for."

The degradation of black women in popualr culture, such as in rap music, is just one example of the problems Jones sees still facing the country. Despite the progress that has been made, she believes much work is to be done.

"I'm a professor at Iowa now - who would've thought?" she said. "There is now the possibility of voting for a black man for president. That's what we fought for, not this other stuff."


'… Today our very survival depends on our ability to … face the challenge of change.'


Planning this year's Human Rights Week began in early October, and students have a gamut of activities to choose from. Some present larger assembly-like atmospheres, while others build on one-on-one exercises that help explore the widely varied notions of diversity.

One glance at the various event sponsors demonstrates that this week is not just about ethnicity - it's about sexuality, gender, religion, economic status - essentially, everything we incorporate into our identity. And student organizations from across campus have leapt at the chance to get involved.

"A lot of people think of Martin Luther King Jr. as someone who just minorities are interested in," said UI senior Courtney Parker, one of the week's many planning committee members. "I know that's not the case. When you bring all these people together, it becomes more inclusive by default, and we're attempting to move toward something together."

Parker helped facilitate Stomping Out Stereotypes on Tuesday, a set of activities that helped students look at their reactions to different cultures.

"We don't want to try to make people feel guilty about their socioeconomic class, race, or background," she said. "It's about the presence of justice, not undermining people's experiences. There's sort of this idea that we all embrace the idea of tolerance. Tolerance, by itself, is a good thing, but nobody wants to be just tolerated. We want to say, 'Hey, it's OK to disagree and to be different, as long as it's done in a respectful way.' "

Parker has spent her years at UI embracing these ideas - not just talking about them. Coming from a ethnically and religiously diverse heritage, Parker is passionate about King's messages and beliefs. An active member in the Black Student Union, the Chabad Jewish Student Association, and the Center for Diversity and Enrichment, she doesn't just talk the talk - she passionately leads the walk, and she has taken note of other leaders on campus.

"I feel that each year at the university, there have been more and better steps toward really taking diversity seriously," she said. "There's often a lot of rhetoric about diversity that's not really backed up, but while I've been here, I've seen programs and individuals emerge who really care about these things."

If progress is being made now, however, it's important to be mindful of the challenges still ahead and that an utopia is still a dream.


'You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.'


During the holiday, Jones says she remembers not only King but all the heroes and heroines that were a part of the civil-rights movement, the many leaders besides King who inspired people to action.

That's the message that's being iterated. And in reality, this week isn't just about King's famous dream.

"People think the civil-rights movement is over," Parker said during the Interfaith Breakfast. "When you pair King with human rights, you acknowledge something more than a message just for blacks and Christians. This shouldn't be limited by one day or one week."

Just as King wanted, the civil-rights movement embodied so much more than the "I have a dream" speech. Leaders like Malcolm X, a Black Muslim minister, took a radical approach to his King's controversial politics. Bayard Rustin, a gay black civil-rights leader, counseled King and organized the infamous Freedom Riders and the 1963 March on Washington. Rosa Parks, John Lewis, Hosea Williams, and many others all pushed the movement.

And Parker is right: it's far from over. Students lined up to volunteer Monday to pitch in around town in an effort to make the holiday a day on, not a day off. More than 115 volunteers spread across the community to such locations as the Iowa City Public Library, Apple Tree Children's Center, and Miracles in Motion.

"It's very popular for everyone on campus to pretend as though they never have time and that they're always frantically running around," said UI graduate student Mark Bresnan after registering to volunteer early Monday morning, coffee in hand. "Today's a great day, because everybody has time."


'The ultimate measure of a [man or woman] is not where [he or she] stands in moments of comfort & convenience, but where [he or she] stands at times of challenge and controversy.'


Extending the King holiday into a two-week-long celebration enhances the recognition of King's work, encompassing more people and allowing a deeper effect. Haskins, the facilitator of the interfaith dialogue, said one day is not enough time to build awareness of King's message. The holiday must be an event that continues in people's minds, past a day, a week, or a month.

"I don't want to just come in and then go back to business," the soft-spoken 54-year-old said. Haskins has helped recognize the King holiday on seven different campuses and has served as assistant director of Diversity and Cultural Centers at UI since September. He's encouraged by what he has witnessed over the years.

"I've learned that there's hope, that people of all backgrounds can come together as one body, that it's possible that we don't have to be segregated, even though sometimes it seems like our differences will destroy us," he said.

To Haskins, Human Rights Week is the beginning of something larger for the people involved. It marks a broader understanding of King's work and a mindset toward his vision. He said it's a personal journey - beginning this week and continuing on much longer.

E-mail DI reporters Ann Colwell and Claire Lekwa at:
daily-iowan@uiowa.edu

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