Panelists at the Martin Luther King, Jr. convocation revealed that the media may be responsible for the stagnancy of today’s civil rights movement.

As a result of King’s visit to Sacramento State forty years ago when he delivered his speech, “The Future of Civil Rights,” Sac State held a celebration today to honor both his life and legacy. The panel discussion-titled “University Convocation”-was held in the University Union Ballroom.

When opening the panel discussion, Sac State Provost Joseph Sheley addressed the university’s reasoning behind holding the King celebration convocation.

“We need to re-focus on the civil rights movement. We are holding this convocation, not only to honor the individuals’ analyses, tactics and concepts, but to show that the changes that occurred were very good efforts,” he said.

The role of the media throughout the years of the Vietnam War was heavily debated by all of whom attended the event.

The panel discussion featured guest speaker Juan Williams from National Public Radio’s morning edition.

Heavily involved in the media himself, Williams expressed his thoughts of King’s influence in the media.

“King became the one person that the camera was able to follow. Through King, the media was able to begin tracking the civil war movement,” he said.

Molly Dugan, panelist and Sac State journalism professor, argued that the media’s failure was their inability to connect hope and social justice with the civil rights movement, adding “without television and print, the press would’ve been like a bird without wings.”

During a poignant point in the lecture, Williams described a memory of watching a Fun Town-a white-only amusement park-television commercial with his daughter. He recalled his daughter’s reaction of wanting to go to Fun Town and the emotions he had when he explained to her that-because of her color-she was banned from going to Fun Town.

“King gave a voice to the transforming story of the civil rights movement. He was seen in all elements of the press,” Williams said.

King was humanized and depicted as a compassionate leader. He was referred to as someone willing to make sacrifices and stand tall in face of the persistent media.

Dr. William Dorman, panelist and professor emeritus described King’s unique way of getting people involved with his cause and felt that it

“Everyone was watching him, but King was so different. He sanctioned us to speak out. All of us felt that we were on the outside, but King welcomed us into the blacks’ civil rights cause,” said Dr. William Dorman, panelist.

While the media’s involvement strengthened King and the civil rights movement, today’s media received were the least acknowledged.

Convocation panelist and president of the Nehemiah Corporation, Scott Syphax reacted to the idea that the media played a role in the progress of the civil rights movement.

“I think the media has dumbed down and rubbed the hard edges off of the civil rights movement. The movement was all about affirming dignity and addressing access to opportunity,” Syphax said. “There still remains a lot of work to maintain and promote achievements that have been made so far.”

Amber Kantner can be reached at [email protected].

Click here to read about another panel discussion, where speaker Clayborn Carson and others discussed how King would view today’s world.