SALT LAKE CITY — On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Utahns shared stories, sang songs, and rallied to commemorate the Civil Rights leader’s legacy.
“MLK day is for everyone,” said LeiLoni McLaughlin, the director of the Center of Community and Cultural Engagement. “All of the rights he fought for has benefited all of us.”
McLaughlin was one of hundreds of people who rallied or sang to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. — known as one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968.
Inside the Utah State Capitol, people drummed and sang. Advocates and community leaders gave speeches in front of a crowd.
Jenessa Jimoh, the founder of DIVA, a non-profit that focuses on providing safe spaces for BIPOC communities, said that as a person who’s of mixed races, Dr. King’s work means a lot to her.
“It wasn’t even possible for me to be here not that long ago,” she said. “To be given those opportunities and experiences to love who I want to love, to be who I want to be, go to college where I want to go, travel where I want to go. I know he created that bridge for me.”
At the University of Utah, hundreds of advocates and students rallied. Joe Boyden, the university’s student body president was one of those students. He shared Dr. King’s philosophies that he lives by.
“To remember the values and principles of human rights going forward in a wildly changing world — AI, a new president coming in. We need to remember what the basics are for human rights.”
