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Students came together with MLK Center ambassadors to enlighten the campus on inequalities in America in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. and his fight for equality.

The MLK Vigil Walk is an annual event organized by the MLK Center to educate campus students on inequalities from the past and now. This event ends a week long tribute to King, which includes last Saturday’s day of service.

Starting in Whitehall Classroom Building, ambassadors led the vigil, candles in hand, along central campus to different scenes. To depict the injustices, volunteers acted out symbolic examples. From the wage gap between men and women to police brutality, each scene was constructed in the image of King and his dream.

To Xavia Gantz, a graduate student in hospitality management and tourism, King’s legacy means access to opportunity that she otherwise would not have.

“It means freedom and equality. It’s also a legacy that’s not yet finished. It’s our responsibility as citizens of America, especially minority citizens, to do what we can to contribute to the legacy,” Gantz said.

The last part of the vigil stood as evidence that King’s legacy is truly not yet finished. Two students stood with signs that read “Absolutely No Blacks Allowed” and “Segregation = Good Education.” These signs were common 60 years ago.

Yet, when the signs were flipped around they showed blown up pictures of posts from a popular campus app, Yik Yak.

Sophomore Destiny Witherspoon, a dual major in broadcast journalism and human communications, spoke to the audience of events that occurred last year when black students engaged in a “die-­in” to protest police brutality.

The Yik Yak posts contained expletives and racist remarks pointed toward the students’ protest. When talking with Witherspoon about this incident, she said it was disappointing, but it was real.

“It’s really important for us to have this vigil on UK’s campus, to show that we have grown, but there are still injustices that need to be dealt with and addressed, and not just pushed off to the side because we don’t want to start conflict,” Witherspoon said.

After the walk, campus students were invited to enjoy chili while viewing a video compilation of MLK’s “I Have A Dream” speech, clips from the movie Selma and the song “Glory” by John Legend and Common. This kicked off another segment of the night, where participants split into groups and discussed ways they could fix the inequality they were assigned to.

The evening concluded with an open discussion on today’s injustices and how they parallel with things that were happening back in King’s day.