On Tuesday, January 17 the Dana Hall community honored the life and actions of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. assembly.

The assembly is organized by the student group S.H.A.D.E.S. (Sisters Honoring All Diasporas and Enlightening Society). Students shared videos, songs and poems all inspired by Dr. King.

S.H.A.D.E.S. Co-Heads A. Baez ’12 and M. Bey ’12 opened the assembly by describing the mission of S.H.A.D.E.S. “The members of S.H.A.D.E.S. strive to learn about each other and our different heritages,” Bey explained. Baez added, “The theme for S.H.A.D.E.S. this year is living beyond coexistence. This means we must do more than merely tolerating each other’s differences.” S.H.A.D.E.S. also promotes speaking up, stopping discrimination, ending ignorance and advocating for social justice.

The assembly continued with a short video about how Martin Luther King Day came to be, followed by Baez, C. Lyons ’12 and M. Pontes ’12 reading excerpts from King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail. Students showed a slideshow of social justice leaders from around the world including Nelson Mandela from South Africa, Ana Roque de Duprey from Puerto Rico and Amilcar Cabral from Cape Verde.

After Baez, A. Putri ’12 and A. Waye ’13 sang “We Are The World” by Michael Jackson, V. Robichaud ’12 spoke about being a part of the diverse Dana community and C. Pina ’12 shared an original poem.

Baez and Bey ended the assembly by presenting the crowd with a banner printed with the word “coexist” that will hang in the Dining Center. The Co-Heads of S.H.A.D.E.S. encouraged fellow students, faculty and staff to mark the banner with their thumbprints as a way to show support for S.H.A.D.E.S. and diversity at Dana Hall.