King vigil, march draws 80

Approximately 80 people participated in a candlelight vigil last night to honor Martin Luther King, Jr. During the Alpha Phi Alpha sponsored event, participants carried candles and sang "We Shall Overcome" through the cold night to College Green. Roger Jackson, ambassador for the Points of Light Foundation in Washington, D.C., was the keynote speaker of the procession, and delivered an address on "Young Leadership and Service." Jackson, an Alpha brother, implored his audience to follow in the steps of King, and to heed the call of community leadership. Jackson said that today's black youth only vaguely know the meaning of protest that the youth of King's time did. "Boycotts, protests . . . these terms mean nothing, they are fantasy words," Jackson said. Jackson emphasized the fact that those who participated in the civil rights movement of the 1960s were mostly young people. "If they didn't take the time, not one of you would be in this institution today," Jackson said. "Think about that, long and hard." Jackson went on to demand that young people answer the call to leadership. "[Today's youth] are asleep at the switch," Jackson said. "When the call for leadership goes up, we put our heads down. When the call for leadership goes up, we look to the left, to the right." "We are not willing to step forward, and that must change," Jackson said. Jackson cited the fact that the most profound years of King's life were when he was the age of college students, and said that everyone present at the vigil had the potential to change the course of history. "Being black in America is a heavy burden," Jackson said. "But it is not an impossible one." Some participants in the vigil were moved to tears by the speech. At the conclusion of the speech, the procession walked back up Locust Walk to DuBois House, singing the anthems, "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" and "We Shall Overcome". Participants said after the vigil that the event was inspirational and meaningful. "It was an exciting and captivating experience, to have a call and a charge to leadership that amounts in truth, and in purpose, to what is good, what is right, and what needs to be done," Wharton sophomore Robert Smith said. JUMPHEAD FOR SUIT STORY Confusion over exam leads to harassment