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Unity Walk Brings WSU Students, Community Together

Carla Eckels
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KMUW
WSU sophomore Sarah Myose, center, joins other marchers in the middle of the MLK Unity Walk.

Students and community members braved the cold Wednesday night to participate in Wichita State’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Unity Walk.

Staff from the Office of Diversity and Inclusion began the walk at the Red Bud trail south of campus followed by a program at WSU’s new Experiential Engineering building.

Sophomore Sarah Myose said she participated in the walk as an effort to become more involved in the community.

“Especially since right now in our nation, there is a lot of racial tension, so I think that something like this is a really good way to show that we still have a whole lot more things that unify us than divide us," she said.

Credit Carla Eckels / KMUW
/
KMUW
WSU graduate student Randy Barber participates in the Unity Walk Wednesday night. Barber says Dr. King's legacy has helped him work toward achieving his dream of a doctorate in community psychology.

Graduate student Randy Barber said Dr. King was a transformative leader. He said the walk demonstrates the importance of diversity.

“This unity walk incorporates all type of individuals from every walk of life, and so we want to be inclusive as a campus," Barber said. "But we want to show that MLK stood for more than black rights, but for the rights of everyone, and so this unity walk helps us to show that to people."

The Reverend LeSean Tarkington, a senior pastor at Grant Chapel AME Church, was the keynote speaker.

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Carla Eckels is director of cultural diversity and the host of Soulsations. Follow her on Twitter @Eckels.

 
To contact KMUW News or to send in a news tip, reach us at news@kmuw.org.

 

Carla Eckels is Director of Organizational Culture at KMUW. She produces and hosts the R&B and gospel show Soulsations and brings stories of race and culture to The Range with the monthly segment In the Mix. Carla was inducted into The Kansas African American Museum's Trailblazers Hall of Fame in 2020 for her work in broadcast/journalism.