Over 50 members of the Penn community braved the cold last night to commemorate the birth of Martin Luther King Jr. with a march on Locust Walk followed by a candlelight vigil.
"You all took the challenge to just come out tonight," Curtis Redding, event sponsor Alpha Phi Alpha's chapter adviser, told the assembled crowd.
Redding, a graduate student in the School of Arts and Sciences, described the vigil as the first step in furthering the civil rights movement.
The participating students, faculty and community members met at the Quadrangle and Dubois and Hill College Houses and marched to Houston Hall, carrying lit candles and singing.
The groups convened at the Hall of Flags, where participants were invited to speak informally about their feelings on King.
We are "fired up, renewed and rejuvenated to do our part in the cause," said University Chaplain William Gipson, who led the group in prayer and spoke about the significance of the holiday.
Alpha Phi Alpha organized the vigil as a part of its Alpha Week activities, held every year to coincide with Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Fraternity leaders also orchestrated several charity events in conjunction with the holiday.
"A vigil is a time to be awake when it is customary to be asleep," Gipson said. "I want to encourage you to continue doing what you're doing. ... God will show you the way."
Several attendees spoke about the importance of affirmative action when remembering King's life.
"I'm here because of affirmative action," College junior Samora Noguera said. "I think a lot of us owe [King] a debt."
Others echoed this sentiment, calling the struggle for these policies the modern equivalent of King's civil rights activism.
Affirmative action "helps to eliminate disparities, not only in education ... but the poverty our people are in," said Nick Vaughan, who is a student in the Law School.
Attendees also wrote their thoughts about King on scraps of paper.
The project -- which reflects the Alpha Week theme of "Breaking the Silence" -- is symbolic of King's famous Letters from a Birmingham Jail.
King's letters "echo throughout history," Alpha Phi Alpha President and College senior Kiel Berry said. "They show his perseverance. We wanted to do the same thing because we wanted to show that his legacy is still being carried on."
Most people who spoke reminded the audience of King's commitment to service.
"We're privileged. We're at Penn," said Lola Schelling, a first-year graduate student in the School of Social Work. "We need to put ourselves at the bottom of the list."
