‘Unite our voices’: VCU Health hosts event to honor the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Recognizing the importance of service and our mission to restore the health of all, VCU Health and VCU commemorate the Civil Rights trailblazer’s impact decades after his death.
January 31, 2025
Dozens of people connected to VCU Health, VCU, and the Richmond community took part in the second event hosted by the health system to mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day. (Allen Jones, Enterprise Marketing and Communications)
By Sara McCloskey
“‘Mommy, should I hate the man who killed my Daddy?’ And I said, ‘No, darling, Daddy wouldn’t want you to do that.’”
The words of Coretta Scott King, the wife of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and her daughter, Yolanda, echoed throughout the Hermes A. Kontos Medical Sciences Building on the VCU Medical Center campus late Saturday afternoon.
The quote – an excerpt from an interview nearly nine months after King’s death read by Kevin Harris, Ph.D., a senior associate dean at Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Medicine – demonstrated the strength and grace of the King family in the midst of tragedy and set the tone for the health system’s Martin Luther King Jr. Community Walk and Celebration.
Those who attended the event walked from outside the Children's Pavilion to the Hermes A. Kontos Medical Sciences Building. (Allen Jones, Enterprise Marketing and Communications)
It’s the second year those with ties to Virginia Commonwealth University, VCU Health, and the Richmond community came together to honor the legacy of the Civil Rights leader. The event not only marks the importance of King’s nonviolent actions to dismantle segregation and racism in the United States but, as Marcelle Davis notes, it also highlights the health system’s commitment to promoting accessibility in health care spaces.
“Today, we choose to unite our voices to honor and celebrate Dr. King,” said Davis, DSL, MBA, vice president of Inclusive Excellence for VCU Health System. “Here at VCU Health System, we are committed to serving you. That service is the springboard we need to earn your trust so that we can preserve and restore the health of all people of Virginia and beyond.”
Members of the Black Awakening Choir at VCU include (Allen Jones, Enterprise Marketing and Communications)
Bundled up with just enough layers to move throughout downtown Richmond, dozens gathered at Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU’s Children’s Pavilion and walked to the Kontos building.
Welcomed by the warmth of the indoors and an inspiring image of the King family, the group recalled the gravity of his death and its effect not only on the nation but King’s wife and children. Keynote speaker Rev. Reuben J. Boyd Jr., of the 3rd Street Bethel AME Church in Richmond, emphasized that Americans must keep King’s dream of a promised land alive, where all are treated equally.
The crowd was also brought together by the voices of the Black Awakening Choir at VCU, who uplifted the ideals of King through song. As the words of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” reverberated through the auditorium, people began to stand up, sway, and sing together – a unifying moment for community members, students, faculty, and team members who marked the end of VCU and VCU Health’s week of MLK.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Community Walk and Celebration was organized by the VCU Health Office of Inclusive Excellence in partnership with VCU Health Arts in Healthcare, the VCU Division of Community Engagement, Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU, VCU Division of Inclusive Excellence, VCU Health Human Resources, VCU Office of Multicultural Student Affairs, VCU Office of Student Engagement and Impact, VCU Police, VCU Health Parking and Courier Services, VCU School of Medicine, and VCU Health Spiritual Care.
Volunteers handed out hats, scarves, hand warmers and other goodies to those attending the walk and celebration. (David Grey, Arts in Healthcare)
