After a week of remembrance, Martin Luther King Jr. Week ended Jan. 20 with a celebratory banquet hosted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Afrikan People's Union. The banquet featured keynote speaker John Ewing, the Douglas County treasurer, who spoke of the importance of reducing the high costs of college.
"We need to make college more affordable so that all young people can start getting a quality curriculum," Ewing said.
The theme for this year's MLK banquet was "Looking Back to Go Forward," and was set up in the Nebraska Union Ballroom. Among the guests were UNL students, the APU Gospel Choir and families from the F Street Community Center.
"This is a time for us to cherish how many things we have because of Dr. King," said Rhaniece Choice, second vice president of APU and a sophomore pre-inclusive early childhood education major.
Choice organized the MLK banquet this year. Ewing, who was Choice's basketball coach when she was younger, was chosen as the keynote speaker because she knew he would have a lot to offer to the event, she said.
Ewing became Douglas County treasurer in January of 2007 and was the first African American elected county-wide in Nebraska's history.
Before then, he worked as an officer for the Omaha Police Department for 24 years and was eventually promoted to deputy chief of police. As deputy chief, Ewing worked to pass 10 laws that would protect women and children in the state of Nebraska.
During his speech, Ewing said he believes American government should be looked at in a realistic way as opposed to ideologically.
"We've made significant progress, but Dr. King wasn't just concerned with civil rights," he said. "Dr. King was concerned with the economic trite of the American people."
According to Ewing, there is a growing disparity in the top 1 percent of the American economy.
"That's not good for America when it has a strong middle class," he said.
Ewing is currently campaigning for a position in Nebraska's second congressional district. He said he believes it's important to have people in Congress who will listen to the American people.
If elected, Ewing plans pass a jobs bill and start making investments in America's future. He wants to look closely at student loans, making them affordable so students aren't living underneath an enormous pile of debt when they graduate. He said he wants students to graduate with a career, not just a job.
Ewing said it was a tremendous honor to be selected as the banquet's keynote speaker.
"We need to not only celebrate Dr. King's legacy, but to continue living out that legacy in order to keep moving forward," he said.
After Ewing's speech, the APU Gospel Choir performed three acapella pieces, including "Lift Every Voice and Sing," a popular song from the Civil Rights Movement.
The children from the F Street Community Center also performed a skit about Martin Luther King Jr., who was trying to decide if going to college was worth it because he knew he would be assassinated in the end.
Sachi Baeta, a sixth-grade student at Lincoln Park Middle School, acted the part of a good angel trying to persuade King that going to college would be the right thing to do. She said MLK would always be one of her heroes.
"He made it possible for black people to have an education," she said.
Choice concluded the banquet by giving tokens of appreciation to F Street Community Center and the APU Gospel Choir. She also gave thanks to UNL's Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Juan Franco for donating money to the event.
"Dr. King gave us so much to cherish," Choice said. "Like John said, we can't just celebrate Dr. King's dream. We have to live it."
conordunn@dailynebraskan.com
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