Nate Rouse, director of equity, race and culture diversity initiatives for Barrington Area Unit District 220, listens with his son to the famed “I Have a Dream” speech every year. (John Starks | Staff Photographer)
Every year, Nate Rouse and his 12-year-old son observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day by listening to the civil rights leader’s “I Have a Dream” speech and thinking about how to keep that legacy alive.
This year, Rouse said, he hopes the holiday will take on even greater significance for people in light of the nationwide conversations on race and equity sparked by the Black Lives Matter movement in the last year.
“One of (King’s) most poignant lines was that he hoped his children would be judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin,” said Rouse, who in August became the first director of equity, race, and cultural diversity initiatives for Barrington Area Unit District 220. “Connecting that vision to the events that have taken place this past year in our country, we have been reminded again in Black, Indigenous and people of color communities that we are not there.”
Other suburban residents echoed that, saying MLK Day should spark reflection but also action.
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