Samantha Saville
The Paw Print
A very large crowd filled Porter Hall Room 130 for Dr. Ed Crowther’s lunch time talk celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Week. With this as the first lunch time talk for the semester, it came as a huge success. The Black Student Union and the Grizzly Activity Board had asked Dr. Crowther to speak this year for their annual MLK week because of his expertise on the subject. Corwther mentions that he has become the “torch bearer for King at Adams State” and how big of an honor that is.
Crowther is the chair of the Education Department and the History, Government and Philosophy Department. He has been at Adams State University for over 26 years and has been a big supporter of MLK Week. With all of the donations and merchandise bought in support of MLK Week, the Black Student Union and GAB are hoping to start a scholarship for African American students. This is part of the drive to make ASU welcoming to everyone who wants to pursue a higher education.
One of Crowther’s main points in his talk on MLK and the American Dream was that it is important to remember Martin Luther King Jr. correctly. He wanted to specifically express that King deeply believed in the American Dream as a reality. The full title of Crowther’s talk this year was “MLK and the American Dream: Out of a Mountain of Despair, a Stone of Hope.” Crowther went on to say that many in MLK’s time believed King to be a “Stone of Hope.”
This talk was a very inspirational speech about King’s life. It seems that everything about King is inspirational. He grew up during World War II when the horrors of mankind prevailed, yet he still had amazing optimism that people and the world could change for the better. Around the ‘Stone of Hope’ memorial, King is quoted in saying “Right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant.” This is from his Nobel Prize acceptance speech. King’s optimism that America could come out of the ashes of a horrible time was outstanding. King was not only sympathetic to the victims of the civil rights movement but to the oppressors as well. The civil rights movement didn’t just hurt the people fighting for basic human rights, but was soul-destroying to the oppressors as well, and King recognized that.
King also recognized that the American Dream was as of yet still a dream. It had not, and has not, been achieved. He said that this dream is not rooted in the laws of nature, which are inalienable rights given to men that do not need to be made into law. This dream, in King’s time, had not been realized because of America’s “original sin”, slavery and racism. What’s more, this dream is not just for people of the United States. This dream is for everyone.
This was a very powerful and eye-opening talk by Dr. Ed Crowther that could be expanded upon forever. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a very impressive man who did a lot of good in his time, and still influences us today.
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