IW’s MLK Celebration Service held despite freezing rain

Willie Barney's voice rose, and his hands gripped the podium as he gave Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous 'I have a dream” speech at Iowa Wesleyan University during a celebration service on Tuesday, Jan. 23.

'That speech is so powerful,” Barney concluded. 'It lifts what we say we are on paper as a Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. What Dr. King did, if nothing else, is he stood that paper up and held it up to America and said, ‘Look in the mirror. Are we living what we say we are? What we put on this paper?'”

Barney was the keynote speaker for Iowa Wesleyan University's (IW) annual MLK Celebration Service this year. Barney is the founder and president of the Empowerment Network, which has worked to improve the quality of life for African-Americans, North Omaha and the greater Omaha area since 2006.

Despite rain Tuesday, Barney spoke to an audience of students and some community members in the University Chapel who braved the freezing temperatures.

Barney asked the audience three things on Tuesday: to examine their history, exude hope and be empowered to help others.

Barney said that Martin Luther King Jr. looked at his history and realized he came from a nation that could be great.

IW has an amazing history, Barney said. In the 1880s, the first woman graduated from IW, and in 1885, the first African-American graduated from here, he said.

'You are part of an amazing history and a legacy that has been on the front edge of diversity and inclusion,” Barney said. 'In the 1880s, Iowa Wesleyan was ahead of the nation.”

Barney said that in the midst of trials, 'in the face of dogs biting at your ankles, fire hoses spraying water and pushing you against the wall,” Martin Luther King Jr. exuded hope. He displayed power and strength in the face of adversity and challenges, Barney said.

As the U.S. today at times 'rules against itself and the extremes seem to be winning,” Barney said that he believes Martin Luther King Jr. would challenge IW and the community of Mt. Pleasant to exude hope.

Barney pointed to IW's recent financial uncertainty, saying that the leaders of IW, students and faculty came together to make things happen.

Finally, Barney said that people are empowered to help others.

'That word empowerment isn't someone giving you power,” Barney said. 'It's you discovering you had the power the whole time.”

Barney challenged the audience to be empowered as he believed Martin Luther King Jr. would challenge the audience to be empowered.

'If you watch television, you see the division in our nation,” Barney said. 'But right here on this campus, right here in this room, there are people of all races, cultures and nationalities from small town Mt. Pleasant to Chicago to St. Louis and all across the country.

'What if God sent you here to Iowa Wesleyan to say we can be a better nation, and we are not satisfied, and we will not stop until we get the job done,” Barney concluded.

Parnell Davis, the executive director of Youth For Christ in southeast Iowa, also spoke during the service. Davis said his favorite characteristics of Martin Luther King Jr. was his faith.

'He wasn't just a man who claimed faith, but he was a man who allowed his actions to reflect the faith that God instilled in him,” Davis said.

Several IW students shared their favorite Martin Luther King Jr. quote with the audience and explained what it means to them.

Ariel Smale shared the following quote from Martin Luther King Jr.: 'We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.”

Smale said that in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., she encouraged her fellow classmates to forgive and look for the best in others even when the world is telling them to do otherwise.

Jacquez Hall shared this Martin Luther King Jr. quote: 'Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”

'I chose that quote because no matter who you are in life, you're still able to serve,” Hall said. 'All you need is a heart of grace and a soul of love.”

The service ended with the congregation joining together to sing the Black National Anthem, led by IW voice instructor Donna DeBose.