Last Friday our school had its annual Martin Luther King Jr. assembly, this year the leadership students decided to branch out from the stereotypical MLK assembly approach. Instead they set the gymnasium up as a setting for a TEDx Talk, featuring six different speakers talking about their own experiences with oppression.

According to Morgan Bryson (‘17), who was one of the three leadership students that planned the assembly, Ballew was the one who suggested going the TEDx Talk route. Following the decision to go this direction, Bryson and her partners Ryan Pettit (‘17) and Alayna Miller (‘17), researched different forms of oppression because they wanted to be able to cover as much of the school as possible. The three of them believe “that MLK focused mainly on racism, but his main message was to treat everyone with equality”.

Leading up to the assembly, whispers of a potential walkout began. Except Bryson didn’t believe anyone would actually walk out because she “would never walk out on someone because of how disrespectful it is”.

It’s been three days since the MLK assembly, and over these three days many parents have contacted the school showing concern about the said assembly. At the January 23 school board meeting, a group of them attended to express their concern, as well as another group that came to support the assembly.

The meeting started with a group of third and fourth graders presenting their volunteer projects to the school board, their teachers made jokes that they weren’t expecting this large of a crowd. What started out as an innocent evening transitioned into a controversial discussion of oppression and equality. Board President, Dr. Jeff Huleatt, introduced the comments from the audience section with a reminder to “please have respect and be respectful of everyone’s opinions”.

The first speaker was one of the worried parents; he had prepared a well-written speech highlighting on the fact he felt “all students should be given the right and opportunity” to opt out of assemblies. Not only did parents speak, a fellow teacher from the high school, Mr. Stallons, spoke on behalf of the assembly saying it was “one of the best assemblies” he’s been to.

Stallons also told a short story about two students he was sitting next to that decided to leave the assembly, and that afterwards he found them to praise them on how they left the assembly. He told them they could’ve yelled vulgar things or made a scene, instead they chose to quietly leave the gym.

One of the last parents that spoke turned to the crowd making it clear to not mistake her opinions as “fear or prejudice”, she just wishes she were the one to teach her children how to handle such social issues, not the high school.

Now not everyone agreed that night, but it definitely furthered the discussion of what is accepted and tolerated in our small town. In the end, Martin Luther King Jr.’s words still prevail, “we must learn to live together as brothers or we will perish together as fools”.