About 10 volunteers scattered across the Banneker Community Center’s compact gymnasium at 9 a.m. Monday as visitors arrived to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
They were greeted by a buffet line of pancakes, orange juice and Mark Trotter, one of the event’s main volunteers.
“We’re remembering a great American being,” said Trotter, associate director of IU’s Robert F. Byrnes Russian and East European Institute. “Somebody who dedicated himself in a really exemplary way.”
Trotter continued to offer pancakes to the visitors as more people arrived.
“I am more than disturbed by the turn that our political system has taken,” Trotter said. “I want to do something in a very modest way and push back.”
President Donald Trump was inaugurated the 47th President of the United States on Monday, just an hour after the breakfast ended.
The room fell silent as Kenneth Wilson Jr., the keynote speaker, began his speech about Martin Luther King Jr. and how African American leaders affected his life. Wilson Jr., a mechanical engineer, said he was thankful for the people in his life that helped guide him and that the day should be a celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. as well as family, friends and mentors.
After the speech was over, visitors made their way to an IU Health booth that was stationed adjacent to the buffet. The volunteers at the stand offered free blood pressure checks to visitors.
“Some of the stuff I do in health equity is see how African Americans and different populations are disproportionately affected,” IU graduate student Adrian Tanase said. “I think Martin Luther King Jr. Day for me specifically about being here and trying to reach out and educate.”
Tanase, who was volunteering with two registered nurses, is studying health inequality in underrepresented minority groups. It’s not his first time volunteering at an event like Monday’s, either. He volunteered in December at the Indian Cultural Center for an outreach event. Tanase said the Indian population similarly suffers from health inequality.
“I try to attend as many of these events as possible,” Tanase said. “Given this is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, it is a very special day, and I wanted to come here and help the community.”
