Mrs. Naomi King, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s sister-in-law, came to the University of Massachusetts Boston to participate in a historic discussion. She was joined on a panel by Dr. Bapps as well as three UMass students: Sadie Barbosa, Askia Hanson, and Vonds Dubuisson. Professor Tony Van Der Meer moderated the discussion.
King spent the whole day at the university, starting at a student senate leadership discussion, then went into a reception in her honor for a discussion of the Boston to Selma trip. Naomi King talked about her involvement in the different movements she and Dr. King participated in, as well as things she did in the background. She shared stories that were never in the history books, truly stories that were organically from a person who was behind the scene and who knew Dr. King as a family man and not just as a leader of America.
“Lord walk with Martin walk with and talk with him … that’s when I know in my hearts of hearts that I knew that Martin Luther King Jr. will become the leader that he would become in the world,” said Naomi King. “Martin’s leadership speaks for itself.”
Professor Van Der Meer mentioned how active the students were in the community and allowed them to speak about the things they have done in the community as activists. They took part in the rally of Black Lives Matter as well as the most recent rally, Fight For 15. These students also were part of the group of students that Van Der Meer took to Selma for the 50th anniversary of crossing the Edmund Pettus bridge.
“It has gotten to the point where we can’t wait, we can’t wait for the law maker of the state or the federal government to act, we have to act because when we act and make our voices heard through social media other avenues other will listen,” said Hanson. “We have a long road to go [before] we will get to that promise land … Each one of us has a different battle to fight … and we have to work together to get through it all.”
The panel continued to talk about the issues of today as of 2015, as well as the relation of those issues to the ones that Martin Luther King Jr. and everyone during that era fought against. The discussion was opened to the audience, and audience members were able to ask Naomi King about her journey as a wife of the late A.D. King and her part in movements with Dr. King. The students that went to Selma also discussed an event called Report Back (reporting back of their adventure to Selma) which will take place at the end of April or beginning of May.