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USU will hold candlelight vigil for Martin Luther King Jr.

January 12th, 2010 Posted in Opinion

By Sarah Reale
LOGAN – Utah State University’s 2010 Martin Luther King Jr. Candlelight Vigil is Wednesday, Jan. 13, in the Taggart Student Center Ballroom, 5:30 p.m. with David E. Dixon, an associate professor of political science at St. Joseph’s College, and France A. Davis, a pastor at Calvary Missionary Baptist Church in Salt Lake City, who marched with King in 1965. Activities are free and all are invited.

The vigil gives students, faculty, staff and community members an opportunity to come together to consider the many sacrifices that have advanced social equality. In doing so, one can consider the importance of proactively and positively shaping our future, said Moises Diaz, director of USU’s Multicultural Student Services.

The event was created by USU students in the Black Student Union. It continues with support from USU’s Multicultural Student Services to raise awareness about historical and contemporary race relations.

“The Black Student Union will also be providing songs and poetry reading at the event,” said Diaz.

Dixon, associate professor of political science at St. Joseph’s College, is the co-editor of two recent books, Rhetoric, Religion, and the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1965 and Women in the Civil Rights Movement. The latest work is an anthology of speeches providing evidence of the powerful contribution women made to the struggle; and will primarily inform Dixon’s address.

Davis, full-time pastor at Calvary Missionary Baptist Church in Salt Lake City since 1974, attended Tuskegee Institute and later became an Air Force jet mechanic. He holds degrees in Afro-American studies from Merritt College; arts and humanities from Laney College; rhetoric from University of California at Berkeley; religion and philosophy from Westminster College; master’s of mass communication from the University of Utah; and master’s of ministry from Northwest Nazarene College. Pastor Davis marched with King and others on a voting rights trek from Selma to Montgomery Alabama in 1965.

Light refreshments will be served following the program.

Tags: candlelight, David E. Dixon, France A. Davis, Martin Luther King day, USU, vigil