 "Photo: Ryan Joyce")
At 5:35 p.m. on Tuesday evening, a trickle became a deluge as students, faculty, and administrators entered the Rat to find their reserved tables among the many gathered to celebrate the 26th annual awards banquet for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship. This year's three finalists, out of the extensive applicant pool, included Kristi Scriven, A&S '09, Eric Asuo-Mante, A&S '09, and Shadiyah Curry, A&S '09. University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J., presented each of the finalists with a $1,000 gift certificate to the Boston College Bookstore. "All three of you are winners," Leahy said. The 2008 MLK, Jr. Scholarship was awarded to Asuo-Mante.
Asuo-Mante spent the first 16 years of his life in Ghana before moving to Manchester, Conn. He is majoring in sociology with a pre-med concentration, and is a member of the executive board of the AHANA Collective Theater, Dance Marathon, and the African Students Organization. Asuo-Mante hopes to pursue a BA/MA five-year program in sociology at BC before continuing on to medical school.
In his acceptance speech, he referenced MLK's legacy by saying, "[MLK] sacrificed his life to ensure the freedom of generations yet unborn."
Asuo-Mante also discussed the great strides made in race relations due to MLK's involvement in the civil rights movement, noting that a black man is now a serious contender for the presidency.
The MLK, Jr. Memorial Committee was founded in 1982 with the intent of sponsoring an annual dinner in honor of the icon, featuring both a noted guest speaker and the presentation of a scholarship to a BC junior of African descent.
Students interested in this award must apply, and the committee judges them based on extracurricular activities focused on social justice, their cumulative GPA, an essay written about MLK's influence in their lives, and an interview, according to Rosanna Demarco, the co-chair of the committee.
The MLK, Jr. Scholarship covers 75 percent of the winner's senior-year tuition.
The banquet itself hosted a wide array of guests and speakers, the first of which was Domenic De Leo, committee co-chair, who said that this annual event allows us to "refresh our perspectives and renew our commitments."
De Leo also voiced the committee's continued attempts to acknowledge freshman and sophomore students involved in the study and practice of MLK's nonviolence.
Next, the Voices of Imani Choir performed the gospel songs "Oh Happy Day" and "By and By."
In his introduction, De Leo indicated that this was a special performance because professor Hubert Walters, the choir's musical director since 1982, will be retiring after this year.
Walters said that he has enjoyed bringing this "personal expressive music from the black church" to others throughout the many years.
This year's keynote speaker was Andrea J. Cabral, the Suffolk County sheriff and BC '81. Cabral began by reflecting on the value of a name.
She said that no other race has struggled more with what to call itself. She noted a yearning to reconnect with the race's cultural origin, for "we were not immigrants, but we came as cargo."
In the end, black Americans claim all of their cultural contributions to American society.
"Our history is American history because we have been here from the beginning," she said. "All of this should be held precious and not simply relegated to reflection in the shortest month of the year."
Despite all of these achievements, she believes that black Americans are losing their history "one uneducated child at a time."
She implored the current generation to reverse the growing disconnect between the present and past through the means of education.
"Education equals freedom," Cabral said and continued that her jails in Suffolk County are lined with the "truant children of yesterday."
Every January, Americans celebrate MLK's birthday, and Cabral said that every year we must ask ourselves how far we have come in realizing his dream.
"We have much work to do," but Americans cannot solely rely on external organizations for their resources. There must be a revival of self-reliance, she said.
In the end, Cabral said that the best way to honor MLK is to "help others who need us most … we realize his dream when we make someone else's life better, because his dream is our dream."
The next speaker was Jacqueline Grant, 2007 recipient of the MLK Scholarship and A&S '08, who continued to discuss enlightenment through education by indicating the importance of "expanding our limited lenses."
Grant said that BC has made great strides to accept diversity, but that "we will slow our progress if we become complacent," and that one way to avoid this is by "pursuing a liberal arts education which focuses on the uniqueness of others."
Grant, who will pursue a doctoral degree in neurobiology, hopes that she can bring diversity to the scientific community.
"The 21st century is a very promising time because barriers can be broken, both in science and elsewhere," she said.
The final speaker was Leahy, who also discussed the importance of education. "It is through passion, vision, and commitment that change occurs, especially at BC," he said. All of these things are the wellspring of knowledge, and all of those present at the event were "witnesses gaining inspiration."
The event concluded with the singing of "We Shall Overcome."
The song, used during the Selma marches and by President Lyndon B. Johnson before Congress, provided an appropriate end to the commemoration of the life and memory of a man whose relevance has not at all diminished since his assassination in 1968, a man who believed that "we shall overcome someday; oh, deep in my heart, I do believe, that we shall overcome some day."
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