Every year on the third Monday of January, the United States acknowledges and celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his accomplishments for the civil rights movement. There are many celebrations held across the country, ranging from educational events to the Kingdom Day Parade in Los Angeles.
Thousand Oaks High School social science teacher and Black Student Union advisor Harold Hutton takes it upon himself to bring this celebration onto campus every year.
Hutton has been a member of the TOHS staff for the past five years, and every year he has organized a presentation of the famous “I Have a Dream” speech in the quad to commemorate Dr. King.
This speech has inspired many to fight for equal rights for all ethnicities in the United States, and will forever be remembered as one of the most influential speeches in American history.
Hutton had one goal in mind when he started this tradition: inspire others through the words of Dr. King, to strengthen the diverse TOHS community.
“I think it is really important to know the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech,” Hutton said. “But hearing it sends a different message, and it makes more of a connection to what [Dr. King] was saying and why he was saying what he said.”
Through his time advising TOHS’s Black Student Union, Hutton has been working to create an environment where African American students on campus can feel connected to all their peers, not just other black students.
“[King] talked about how people of all ethnicities have worked together to build this thing called the United States of America,” Hutton said. “It is a country that is built of many different ethnicities, not just one.”
This speech carries so much power and was a huge factor in the push for civil rights for African Americans in the United States.
“The speech helps to show how an African American man can bring a country together by speaking truth and love,” Hutton said.
Even though school is out for this holiday, this year, the “I Have a Dream” speech will be presented Jan. 20 during lunch, where all are welcome to stop and listen to this powerful message.
