A newly discovered speech by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. aired Monday on Fort Lewis College’s radio station, KDUR-FM, as more than 100 students marched on campus in honor of the assassinated civil rights advocate.

Days after King became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway in December 1964, he gave a speech to a London audience about the civil rights movement, which Democracy Now! released for the first time Monday, the holiday in his honor.

Speaking of racism in America, King said no matter where he went, he was always asked whether civil rights leaders in the U.S. were making real progress in the struggle to “make racial justice a reality.”

“And whenever I seek to answer that question, on the one hand, I seek to avoid an undue pessimism; on the other hand, I seek to avoid a superficial optimism,” King said.

“And I try to incorporate or develop what I consider a realistic position, by admitting on the one hand that we have made many significant strides over the last few years in the struggle for racial justice, but by admitting that before the problem is solved we still have numerous things to do and many challenges to meet.”

King’s theme kicked off the first of a three-day social justice workshop at Fort Lewis College. At 12:15 p.m., students and activists rallied in front of the Center of Southwest Studies building and marched toward the Student Union, picking up stragglers headed to class along the way.

The students, led by the Fort Lewis College Choir, sang “We Shall Overcome,” the popular protest song that became the anthem of the Civil Rights movement, and carried signs that read “End Racism” and “White Supremacy = Terrorism.”

“We come out here to celebrate a legacy,” Shirena Long, coordinator of El Centro de Muchos Colores, told the crowd. “What we like to do is celebrate, honor, through song, through action, through movement. So we march as a whole group. All of us unite.”

Long told The Durango Herald that although Fort Lewis College doesn’t have a high black student population – about 1 percent of the school’s estimated 3,692 students – it’s important to talk about the issues surrounding racial equality.

“The Black Lives Matter movement and campaign isn’t all about one people,” Long said. “It’s about how society created the need to have a movement like that. It’s for everyone.”

Long added that this year’s MLK celebration saw triple the turnout of the previous year.

“It’s a sign people are ready to talk about this issue in a meaningful way,” she said.

Inside the Student Union, music performance major Alex Blocker said racism is not just being confronted by a slur, but also takes form in more subtle ways that are built into small societal situations.

“Racism is somebody walking up to me saying, ‘What’s up gangster?’” Blocker said. “I’m not a gangster. I’m enrolled in college.”

Hope Crestpo, a senior, said she’s encountered suspicious looks and intrusive questions because of her race, which she herself does not know.

“I don’t know what ethnicity I am,” Crestpo said. “And I don’t think it really matters. We’re all trying to get ourselves to a better future, no matter what ethnicity or color we are. We’re all a human race.”

Ralliers broke into small workshop groups, discussing topics that included how to build a successful social-issue campaign, mindful listening as activism and how altering some individual lifestyle choices can promote larger social change.

“We rely on inequality to perpetuate our lifestyles,” said visiting Fort Lewis College professor Kristina Kahl, referring to some consumer practices such as buying cheap clothing from overseas.

Keno Evol, a teacher, poet and activist, made the trip to Fort Lewis College from Minneapolis-Saint Paul, telling the crowd it was the “first time I’ve ever seen a mountain.”

Evol said even though racism at Fort Lewis College and Durango might not be on the same, heated discourse as other areas such as Ferguson and Chicago, it’s important to have events that shed light on the issue, and keep the conversation going.

“MLK said we’re all connected,” Evol said. “And that an injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere.”

jromeo@durangoherald.com