Oshkosh community honors MLK with event

OSHKOSH, WI—(WISS)— The Second Annual Martin Luther King (MLK) Jr. Day celebration by the he Oshkosh Area School District (OASD) at Vel Phillips Middle School was more than a celebration of the civil rights activist and history maker. The event marked a torch being passed from one generation to the next. It showed a son following close in his father’s footsteps to fight injustice.

MLK Jr. Day Celebration featured music, essays written by students in OASD Schools, a presentation of the Torchbearer awards by the Oshkosh Civiclity Project, and a keynote speech from a high school freshman that pulled no punches, on the current state of race relations in the community.

“I was trying to create the tension to make space for the presence of justice. The same way Dr. King created tension by speaking uncomfortable truths. I chose to speak things that might make people uncomfortable, Mooka Subulwa said. “But it’s the truth, like they need to know so that the presence of justice can be there.”

Mooka Subulwa was the keynote speaker. Minutes before he gave his speech, his father, Mushe Subulwa, the executive director of SEPO, and an advocate for immigrants in the community and inclusivity, was honored as one of the dozen “Torchbearers” by the Oshkosh Civility Project.

Mushe Subulwa said he is proud of his son. “ It’s so unbelievable to see my son do what he does best…Since he was three years old, he’s been in meetings with me at the city council. He’s seen me public speak, criticize, whatever I need to criticize, but trying to change the system. So he’s been following the footsteps, but to actually see him leading now. I guess I should retire!”

Keynote Address

Mooka Subulwa, 9th Grade Leader at Oshkosh North High school delivered the keynote address. 

Here are a few quotes from his speech.

“ None of us are free. When a staff member at your elementary school says that you belong in chains. That was me. Third grade. None of us are free when a teacher presses you multiple times in front of the entire class to answer a painful and ignorant question, ‘Is your dad, an illegal?’ Me again. Fifth grade,” said Mooka Subulwa. 

“None of us are free when black students in OASD make up less than 1% of students taking AP classes. None of us are free when black students in OASD are 3.6 times more likely to be suspended than white students. And none of us are free when the adults in positions of power don’t say that this is all wrong. That’s saying “It’s right. 

Somehow. In spite of all this, I also have what Dr. King called ‘Infinite Hope.” he said. 

“We owe it to ourselves. We owe it to each other, and we owe it to everyone who will come after us. As Dr. King told us, ‘tomorrow is today and there is such a thing as being too late.’”

Mooka Subulwa

More on the MLK Celebration

Anthony Miller is the Director of Community Engagement and Equity at OASD. He was the force behind starting the MLK Jr. Day Celebration.

“ This is a great way to start the year off, bringing community members together regardless of what parts of the city people are from to get students together to honor Dr. King’s legacy, I think is invaluable to our community,” said Miller.

Miller wanted the celebration to be not only a remembrance of King and his legacy, but also to put student voices first.

“As a student, we are in trying times. Our infrastructures are being attacked, our support is being taken away, and our necessary resources are beginning to lag,” said Micah Troedel, Black Student Union President at Oshkosh West. “But through all of this, we find peace in this space. Finding our peace within the conflict, all by bringing justice and the memory of Dr. King.”

William Amel, the winner of the MLK Jr. Essay Contest at the high school level said, “ Dr. Martin Luther King’s influence on today’s world is undeniable. However, today’s American society does not embody many of the qualities Dr. King believed did never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal. Is Dr. King’s reminder that one must not correlate legality in morality?”

 “Carry the message forward, live it, speak it, practice it, get up, get involved, and get to work. There’s so much still to do. We owe that to Dr. King,” Mooka Subulwa said in his speech. “We owe it to ourselves. We owe it to each other, and we owe it to everyone who will come after us. As Dr. King told us, ‘tomorrow is today and there is such a thing as being too late.’”