Remembering the dream

For thousands of students who filled the IU Auditorium Thursday during CultureFest, the world 40 years ago was a lifetime away.\nBut for those who lived during Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s era, it wasn't such a distant memory.\nThursday marked the 40th anniversary of King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. on the sweltering day of August 28,1963.\nAs administration members welcomed the incoming class to the CultureFest activities, they tied the anniversary into the importance of diversity on IU's campus.\n"At IU, it is our job to challenge you to continue to dream and envision a better world that King spoke about," said Gloria Gibson, associate vice chancellor for multicultural affairs. "His message was for all people, not just African-Americans, and we should be cognizant of that."\nAlthough the country's racial climate has changed in the last four decades, some say there is much more work ahead.\n"Each of us is responsible for trying to live out King's dream and not just remember it," said Oyibo Afoaku, director of IU's Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center. "This country has a lot of potential and a lot of room for improvement when it comes to racial equality."\nAfoaku said in places like South Africa after apartheid, where there have been drastic social and racial improvements, people have lived by King's messages of refusing to give up.\n"Even in the U.S. there is room for improvement because racism still exists," Afoaku said. "There's still a lot of work to do."\nOn IU's campus, King's speech resonates in several of the issues current students are dealing with.\n"King's vision where you are judged by the content of your character speaks to us directly at IU," said IU history professor Michael Grossberg. "Especially in the wake of a Supreme Court decision about affirmative action and dealing with diversity on campus in general."\nGrossberg encouraged students to think about the link between 1963 and the present.\n"A commemoration of King's speech is valuable because it forces us to find the connection between what we're doing now and what was aspired for us in the past," Grossberg said. "That event seems very long ago, but the aspirations are still important today."\nFor Quiana Stone, president of the Black Graduate Student Association, CultureFest and the 40-year anniversary of King's "dream" held a special meaning that she says is often hard to explain in words.\n"It's because of Dr. King that I'm able to be here at IU today, and I truly believe his words live on," Stone said. "And it's here at CultureFest that we can bridge the gap between all racial groups, ethnicities and religions."\nKing's speech resonates with Stone because of the path King helped blaze when he stood in front of a quarter of a million people that summer in 1963.\n"Words can't really justify how much he impacted our country," she said.\nIn addition to personal significances like Stone's, King's speech remains etched into an important part of U.S. history and the Civil Rights Movement.\n"It remains one of the greatest speeches in our history," said Steven Ashby, an IU history professor. "It was a critical moment in American history and helped galvanize the movement even further to victory. The struggle today is whether or not the dream is fulfilled, and we have a long journey to go."\n-- Nation & World editor Christina Galoozis contributed to this story. Contact staff writer Maura Halpern at mhalpern@indiana.edu.