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WALKER AND JOHN MUIR SCHOOLS Students march to celebrate MLK Jr. Sing freedom songs, hold signs on the way to Southern Oregon University Comment By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings MailTribune.com By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings Posted Jan. 16, 2015 at 7:43 PM Updated Jan 18, 2015 at 9:11 PM By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings Posted Jan. 16, 2015 at 7:43 PM Updated Jan 18, 2015 at 9:11 PM IF YOU GO --> What: Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday celebration When: Noon to 1:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 19 Where: Historic Ashland Armory, 208 Oak St., Ashland (For overflow a... » Read more X IF YOU GO What: Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday celebration When: Noon to 1:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 19 Where: Historic Ashland Armory, 208 Oak St., Ashland (For overflow attendees, there will be a live-streaming simulcast at Standing Stone Brewery) Admission: Free, but donations are welcome. Everyone is encouraged to bring a non-perishable food item to donate to the Ashland Emergency Food Bank. What do you think? Have an opinion on this story? Send a letter to the editor at www.dailytidings.com/sendletter .   » Social News Students from Walker Elementary and John Muir schools certainly brought their singing voices and held up their signs proudly during Friday’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. walk. But how much of Martin Luther King Jr.’s message of hope and nonviolent social change can a fifth-grader really absorb, let alone understand? How about a third-grader? A first-grader? Actually, quite a bit, says Walker first-grade teacher Kathleen Mateas. “It’s really amazing,” she said. “Our youngest learners at Walker and John Muir, they get 'fair' and they get what’s 'not fair.' And we talk about these key concepts and they say, ‘Oh my gosh, segregation was not fair.’ … They’re saying, ‘I know how to treat people kindly, I know what love is, I know what fairness is.’ And now those fifth-graders say, ‘How am I going to change the world, take the Martin Luther King message and become an agent of change now?’” About 500 Walker and John Muir students, teachers and parents celebrated Martin Luther King Jr.’s philosophy and legacy by marching from Walker to Southern Oregon University on Friday, singing freedom songs such as “We Shall Overcome” and carrying signs supporting racial equality and social justice. Following a police escort supplied by the city, and a giant “Celebrate the Dream” banner, the crowd marched down the sidewalk — they stretched nearly an entire city block — before cutting across Siskiyou Boulevard and convening at SOU’s Rogue River Room to watch a slideshow presentation by professor D.L Richardson, student speeches and mini plays. Sam Munson, a fifth-grader at Walker, held up a sign that celebrated Jackie Robinson, who broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball in 1947. It read: “Be brave like him.” “I studied a lot about him and I figured out how cool he was,” said Munson as he marched shoulder-to-shoulder with the rest of the fifth-grade class up Walker Avenue. “Since he was the first black person to ever play a sport nationally, a lot of people hated him and they were really racist. But he was really brave because most people would just quit, because it endangered his life — a lot of people wanted to kill him. So he was really brave to stay in the game.” Molly Knighton, another Walker fifth-grader, said that to her the march was about supporting “equality for all,” and added that Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech was impressive. “I was thinking, ‘That’s a really old video,’ she said. “And also, he’s a really good speech-giver.” And to Knighton, the word “all” doesn’t just apply to people. “I totally believe in equality for all, including animals,” she said. “Some people think animals shouldn’t get equality. It’s not fair. They should totally have equality.” The march culminated a three-week unit study for the Walker students, said fourth-grade teacher Dylana Garfas. During that time Garfas said her students studied Jim Crow laws and the 1963 march on Washington, analyzed MLK’s “I had a dream” speech and read about segregation and the civil rights movement. The students were absorbed by the lessons, Garfas said. “They love studying it,” she said. “It’s a really rich unit and a lot of the kids are just so blown away that that happened, and they just think that it’s so unfair and unjust. They can’t even believe that at one time it was a common thought. So it’s really an eye-opening and wonderful experience for them.” Some video testimonials Garfas showed in class made a particularly strong impression, she said. “They’re thinking about their own life and how would that feel if someone told you you couldn’t use that bathroom or couldn’t use that drinking fountain — the drinking fountain really gets them,” she said. For Mateas, being a part of the event almost brings tears to her eyes every year. In fact, she finds that she has to catch herself during the march to keep from crying. “It is one of my favorite days of the entire school year,” she said. “There is just something to be said about what happens when 500 people gather for a certain purpose, and kids get that. They see this sea of people and the kids will turn to me and they’ll say, ‘Wow, we have a lot of people just like Martin Luther King did.’ And it’s pretty magical. I’m a first-grade teacher so I think lots of things are magical. But it is so magical.” Joe Zavala can be reached at 541-776-4469 or [email protected]. By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings MailTribune.com By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings Posted Jan. 16, 2015 at 7:43 PM Updated Jan 18, 2015 at 9:11 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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