An annual and favorite tradition among the EMU community is a trip to Sprague’s Barbershop in downtown Harrisonburg, where Tyrone Sprague gives haircuts along with lively conversation on the sixth floor of a Court Square building. Sunlight streamed in through lacy beige curtains as a group of EMU students filed in to learn and discuss the history of racism in Harrisonburg.

“America’s original sin is that America was established as a white society,” with slavery being a key foundation of the nation, said visit facilitator Stan Maclin, vice president of the Northeast Neighborhood Association, a community group working to keep that area of Harrisonburg clean, safe, and crime-free.

In the 1950s and 60s, the northeast corner of Harrisonburg – where Rose’s and Autozone are now – was a bustling neighborhood of black culture and business. Then came Project R4. Cities across the country were given the opportunity to receive development funds for “urban renewal” projects in areas labeled as slums. Harrisonburg’s black neighborhood was declared eminent domain, residents were displaced, and their land sold to commercial developers.

Maclin cited King’s “Beyond Vietnam” address in response to structural racism such as Project R4: “I am convinced,” King wrote, “that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values.”

Sprague, giving a haircut during the visit, said that he sees this “revolution of values” happening in younger generations. Across different ethnicities, “they eat together, they laugh together, they go dancing together. In the 1960s and 70s, you didn’t see that,” said Sprague, who grew up in Farmville, Virginia. Sprague remembers that his mother – and white culture – taught him to fear repercussions for looking a white woman in the eyes if he passed her on the street.

The celebration also brought visitors to the EMU campus and the local community, including The Rev. Dr. Nikita Okembe-Ra Imani, a prominent poet, hip-hop artist, musician, and black history scholar from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Speaking at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church during a Sunday service, Imani credited King’s confidence in the face of such ingrained mistrust to his faith in God. When we see “mayhem and destruction, the kind of sickness without compassion,” said Imani, “the world is calling for the people of confidence.” King’s ideology and strategies were direct results of his pacifistic Christianity, Imani explained. “The system had tanks. The system had batons … the system had financial power. King had the Word.”

At the next day’s MLK Day chapel service, Imani called all Christians to join together. Cultures of violence, he said, are ultimately impotent before Christians, who “bring power and brotherhood where there is hatred and malevolence.”

Accompanying Imani to Bethel AME and also during the on-campus MLK Day service was the EMU gospel choir and newly installed Harrisonburg mayor Chris Jones.

Jones, president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), led an afternoon community program at Lucy Simms Center (formerly Lucy Simms School, this segregated school taught area black children from 1939-1966).

The program included two songs by the MLK Celebration Choir. EMU members of this community group included campus chaplain , program assistant , and , of .

Thomas co-chaired the MLK Celebration planning committee with student Christian Parks. The committee wanted to “create a celebration of the life of Martin Luther King Jr. by concentrating on who he was as a person as well as what he did for our country,” she said.

“The hope is that King’s vision and dream can inspire more dreams and more efforts,” said Parks. “In the gathered beloved community, I believe we can dream an America that truly finds the beauty in all things.”

Okembe-RA Imani is chair and professor of the Department of Black Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He is also a veteran of more than 27 years of activism in Black nationalist and Pan-Africanist movements, dealing with race, class, gender, nationality, language and religion. He is ordained as a minister in both the Southern Baptist and African Orthodox churches and is also a consecrated African traditional priest of Amen-RA.

Okembe-RA Imani is the author of two books, The Agony of Education: Black Students at White Colleges and Universities (Routledge, 1996) and Head Games: De-Colonizing the Psychotherapeutic Process (University Press of America, 2010).

He previously taught sociology and Africana studies at James Madison University.

Schedule of events

Thursday, Jan. 15
8 p.m.: Movie and talk back – “To Kill a Mockingbird” (Common Grounds Coffeehouse)

Friday, Jan. 16
10-10:30 a.m.: Reading circles of MLK Jr. sermons and speeches. (Parkwoods Apartments Community Room, Cedarwood 2nd floor lounge, Northlawn Great Lounge, Campus Center Brunk Maust lounge, Seminary main lounge, Hartzler Library, Science Center rm. 104, University Commons student life lounge, Roselawn 200)

11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.: Mix-it up at lunch. (Northlawn Dining Hall)

7-9 p.m.: Evening of service and visit to Tyrone Sprague’s barbershop. (Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, John Wesley United Methodist Church and Tyrone’s Barbershop) Vans depart from the University Commons main entrance at 6:30 p.m. To sign up for service, email Y-Serve or the Black Student Union at y-serve@emu.edu or emubsu1@gmail.com.

Saturday, Jan. 17
10 a.m. – 12 p.m., or 12-2 p.m.: Day of service and visit to Tyrone Sprague’s barbershop. (Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, John Wesley United Methodist Church, Blacks Run and Tyrone’s Barbershop) Vans depart from the University Commons main entrance at 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. To sign up for service, email Y-Serve or the Black Student Union at y-serve@emu.edu or emubsu1@gmail.com.

Sunday, Jan. 18
11 a.m.: Community church service with Rev. Dr. Nikitah Okembe-RA Imani. (Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, 184 Kelley Street, Harrisonburg) Vans depart from the University Commons main entrance at 10:30 a.m.

1 p.m.: Community lunch for church attendees. (John Wesley United Methodist Church, 425 Effinger Street, Harrisonburg)

Monday, Jan. 19
9:50-10 a.m.: “One Dream” Solidarity March
10-10:40 a.m.: MLK, Jr. Celebration Chapel with Rev. Dr. Nikitah Okembe-RA Imani, the EMU Gospel Choir and the Alpha Omega Dancers for Christ. (Lehman Auditorium)

10:45-11:30 a.m.: After chapel talk-back on dynamics of the prison industrial complex (Common Grounds Coffeehouse)

Tuesday, Jan. 20
7 p.m.: Food Drive for The Salvation Army, Our Community Place and Patchwork Pantry. Bring non-perishable food items to the men’s volleyball game at Yoder Arena in University Commons.

More info

Admission to all programs is free. For more information on activities related to Dr. King observances, or for a full schedule of events, visit emu.edu/mlk/ or call campus ministries at 540-432-4115.