The Martin Luther King Jr. Committee of Santa Barbara and the Mu Kappa chapter of UC Santa Barbara’s Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity hosted their annual silent march on Jan. 16 on campus. The silent march is a long-held tradition by the organizations to celebrate the life and legacy of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr.

Washington welcomed attendees and led a rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Iris Guo / Daily Nexus
The Martin Luther King Jr. Committee of Santa Barbara (MLKSB) is an organization dedicated to honoring King by promoting his beliefs and hosting community events such as exhibitions, lectures and information booths. Alpha Phi Alpha is a fraternity that supports Black students in leadership, academic and community development.
The event began at noon at the Eternal Flame monument near the Chemistry Lawn and lasted two hours. Event organizer Ajani Washington, a fourth-year communication major and Alpha Phi Alpha president, welcomed around 45 attendees, before inviting them to sing “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” widely known as the Black national anthem. The hymn was written in 1900 by James Weldon Johnson of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and was used as a unifying anthem during the Civil Rights Movement.
Before the march commenced, MLKSB President Gregory Freeland discussed the significance of the Eternal Flame monument, a campus landmark gifted by UCSB’s class of 1968 in order to commemorate the spirit and beliefs of assassinated civil rights leaders.
“[The Eternal Flame] represents not only the eternal life, but the ideas and principles of which [King] stood for, but also President John Kennedy and Senator Robert Kennedy, who also gave their lives to this struggle,” Freeland said. “This flame reminds us that their dreams are alive — flickering brightly in our collective work of justice, equality and compassion.”
After the addresses, attendees embarked on a silent march across campus, led by Washington, through the North Hall walkways which memorialize the 1968 North Hall takeover and ending at the MultiCultural Center (MCC).
UCSB alum John Higgins recounted the events of the North Hall Takeover on Oct. 14, 1968, where a group of 12 Black students barricaded themselves inside of North Hall in protest of discrimination against Black students and Black football players on campus. The Black studies department was established as a result of the movement.

The march began at the Eternal Flame and moved through North Hall and the MultiCultural Center. Iris Guo / Daily Nexus
“Very few people knew it. Very few people organized it. When they did it, they struck like lightning,” Higgins said. “There was a time like the revolution, and when these groups of Black men came together, they [knew] what had to be done. It encouraged Black students here at UCSB, it encouraged Black professors at UCSB and it affected curriculum for Black studies at UCSB.”
The march concluded with a reception at the MCC and catered sandwiches from South Coast Deli. Keynote speaker Charles Terry, a postdoctoral scholar at UCSB’s Center for Black Studies Research, shared a message about King’s activism, legacy and impact on American society.
“King believed in the power of words; he equally believed in the power of doing something, of taking an active role in the community and confronting the reality of racism and its larger impact on African Americans. What [happened] in 1968 at North Hall is a shining example of this — people taking action,” he said.
Terry reiterated phrases from King’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech and concluded his message by highlighting King’s accomplishments, which include the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 — legislation that expanded many Americans’ civil rights by prohibiting discriminatory practices throughout the country.
“King grew up in a society deeply divided by racial segregation, but rather than accept the limitations of the world around him, he dreamed of doing something about it. A world where people were judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. It was this dream that would lead him on a journey to challenge the very fabric of inequality that plagued American society,” Terry said.
After Terry’s speech, leaders from Black student organizations including the Black Student Union (BSU) and Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority shared messages about how to get involved with their groups.
Many attendees left the event feeling inspired by King’s message of unity.
“You can tell that everyone is unified and wants to join together,” third-year Chicana and Chicano studies major Londen Glasper said. “That was [King’s] dream — to bring everyone together. Seeing that his vision has come alive, it’s just really inspiring.”

Gates shared information about how to get involved with the Black Student Union and her dedication to supporting the legacies of King and UCSB’s Black alumni. Iris Guo / Daily Nexus
Jaz’myne Gates, a fourth-year sociology major and president of BSU, was involved in the organization of the event. Gates said she hopes that participants leave with further motivation to engage in the UCSB community.
“I hope attendees take away the actual feeling of wanting to engage or actually feeling proactive,” Gates said. “I think a lot of times we sit in some spaces, and [others] tell us what we need to do, and then we don’t do it. I hope that they feel at least more comfortable, starting out small and then working their way into the community.”
Gates expressed her dedication to supporting the legacies of King and UCSB’s Black alumni.
“I want to continue to support the legacy of not only Martin Luther King Jr., but the legacy of the Black student leaders that have fought for the opportunity to even have this space,” Gates said.
A version of this article appeared on p. 7 of the Jan. 23, 2025 edition of the Daily Nexus.
Often overlooked–including, apparently, at this event–was MLK’s staunch opposition to the Vietnam war and American imperialism in general. “As I have walked among the desperate, rejected, and angry young men, I have told them that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their problems…But they ask — and rightly so — what about Vietnam? They ask if our own nation wasn’t using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the… Read more »