3:06pm: Hotline with Dave Weekley

Keynote speaker says MLK’s vision is what inspired her to write

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Nationally recognized journalist Asra Nomani says Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior’s vision was part of the reason why she wanted to become a writer.

Nomani, who grew up in India, moved to Piscataway, Nj. with her family as a young girl before moving to Morgantown.

During an Ecumenical Service at the state Culture Center to commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday, Nomani talked about her time as a student at Suncrest Middle School. She said her teacher gave each student a journal to write in.

“In this journal, I wrote about how it was that I, as a young Muslim girl, wanted to have equal rights within my faith, how it is that I didn’t want to be separate and unequal in our places of worship that we have,” she said. “I could little have known that that would be part of my struggle.”

Nomani served as the keynote speaker of Monday’s event hosted by the state’s Herbert Henderson Office of Minority Affairs.

She began her speech by welcoming her parents to the stage, who are both of Indian decent. The theme of the event was “It starts with me.”

“But who is ‘me’?” Nomani asked the audience. “Me is our family. Me is the ancestry that we inherit.”

Nomani said she went on to become a reporter for the Wall Street Journal. A lot of what she’s learned from Dr. King has helped her in her career, she said.

“Dr. Martin Luther King, what did he tell us? The function of education; therefore is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. That is the education system that we have embraced in the United States of America. It is what raised me into a writer,” she said.

Throughout the ceremony, there were several performances from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Male Chorus and the Capital High School VIP (Voices in Perfection) Choir.

Gov. Jim Justice said in a video message Dr. King is an American hero whose legacy will live on.

“His fight for equality is what we should be doing every day. We should remember his dream. A man that was taken too early from us, but gave us so much,” the governor said.

The 2023 Martin Luther King, Jr. Living the Dream Awards were also presented to the winners during Monday’s ceremony and are listed below.

Scholarship Award — Dr. Montserrat Miller, history professor at Marshall University

Sharing of Self Award — Takeiya Smith, president of the Berkeley County Diversity Council and board member of the Women’s Health Center of West Virginia

Governor’s Living the Dream Award — Dr. Phillip W. Carter, Jr., a longtime civil rights activist and Marshall University social work professor

After the ceremony, state officials lead a march and bell ringing at the state Capitol steps.





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