Students and staff gathered in the Schluntz Gymnasium on Wednesday, Jan. 21 for the school’s first in-person Martin Luther King Jr. Day assembly since 2016. The event was student-driven and organized and aimed to honor Dr. King’s legacy with student musical performances,student and staff speeches and a keynote speaker.
Junior and MC Dee Sosa introduced the event, and then the Advanced Chamber Orchestra performed a musical piece by Quincy Jones, a Black producer and composer. Afterwards, junior Samiah Williamson addressed the audience directly in her speech which emphasized the importance of the current generation’s ability to create change.
Williamson described the process of planning such an event by recruiting volunteers, advertising and rehearsing. She said the group brought their initial vision to guidance counselor Clifton Jones.
“[The planning committee] started as a very small group of students. We talked to Mr. Jones and he was like, ‘yeah, do your thing, you guys are great at planning,’ so it was just communicating with him and that’s what we did,” Williamson said.
Junior Iliyana Velez followed up Williamson’s speech by performing a solo vocal piece, “a change is gonna come” by sam cooke before Head of School Anthony Meyers gave a speech. Velez said she was excited to be a part of the assembly.
“Although some things were planned a little last-minute, I feel like it all fell into place really nicely,” Velez said. “I feel like that really helped create something bigger than we imagined in the first place.”
Junior Chora Bayer introduced guest speaker Raphael Feliciano Cumbas, a Puerto Rican public defender. Feliciano spoke about Dr. King’s dream of integration and brought up the METCO program at Brookline as an example of Dr. King’s dream in action. Feliciana also stressed the importance of always having a dream and explained that, although it may never be achieved, it gives young people a sense of direction to follow.
Feliciano ended his speech by saying that growing up in poverty led to him becoming a defense attorney, fighting for more funding for youth groups.
After the event ended, Bayer reflected on the audience’s reaction to Feliciano. She said that his words left a strong impact on students and faculty, as she hoped they would.
“It made me happy when I saw many students lining up to ask him questions after the speech,” Bayer said.
Velez said that she is very proud of the organizers and that everyone should think of ways to make their communities better.
“I would definitely say to apply all of the speeches, all of the songs and the musical pieces to MLK’s dream and [to] the real world,” Velez said. “Even if you are not a person of color, there are still things that you can do to help create a better future for the nation.”
