UT rally recalls 1963’s March on Washington

8/29/2014
BLADE STAFF
  • n6march

    Robert Delk, president of the University of Toledo’s Black Student Union, leads a march on the University of Toledo campus commemorating the 51st anniversary of the March on Washington.

    THE BLADE/AMY E. VOIGT
    Buy This Image

    • Robert Delk, president of the University of Toledo’s Black Student Union, leads a march on the University of Toledo campus commemorating the 51st anniversary of the March on Washington.
    Robert Delk, president of the University of Toledo’s Black Student Union, leads a march on the University of Toledo campus commemorating the 51st anniversary of the March on Washington.

    The fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and other cases, were cited by speakers during an anniversary observance of the 1963 March on Washington of the work that is still needed to be done in the civil rights battle.

    The rally to commemorate the 51st anniversary of the march and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech attracted about 70 students on the University of Toledo campus Thursday.

    David Young urged the students to persist in peaceable actions to raise awareness of civil rights injustices.

    “This is not an attack against the police. It is not even a protest against the police. It is to bring awareness to bad policing and to bad policy,” said Mr. Young, who works in UT‘s office of excellence and multicultural student success.

    The rally, which was sponsored by the Black Student Union and and Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, began with a march from the south end of campus to the front steps of the Student Union.

    Mr. Young said he is concerned that his 17-year-old son could be arrested and assaulted by police, stomped if he is detained by officers, among other concerns.

    “This march is about remembering the great work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and all the civil rights icons, and merging that with some of the injustices that is still going on the work that needs to be done,” he said.

    Robert Delk, Black Student Union president, said Mr. King was a hero and role model who has set an example for generations to follow. He encouraged the students to follow the standards he set by going to college, earning degrees, and become role models.