Over the past 47 years since Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination, there has been a rather strange trend in how Dr. King has been represented. As the years go by, the quotes that circulate on social media become more and more tame.

Dr. King was an amazing orator, and he was an amazing advocate for nonviolence and racial equality. But it is important to remember that Dr. King stood for so much more than that. He was very anti-war and held strong political views. Dr. King encouraged citizens to speak out and act when they felt that the established law was unjust. In fact, he felt people had a moral obligation to break laws that were unfair, just as much as they had an obligation to follow those laws that were fair.

While we at the Lanthorn are not in any way encouraging students to break the law, we are encouraging students to (peacefully and constructively) speak up about injustices around them.

Dr. King said, “We who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive.”

This message is very similar to the message Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon Martin’s mother, shared with students on Monday. Ms. Fulton encouraged students to get involved and participate in actively creating a new fabric for America to wrap itself in, one that is devoid of discrimination and racial profiling.

In the past year, there has been a great deal of turmoil in the national discussion. United States citizens are currently having conversations about family planning, police brutality, gun control, drone ethics, the wealth gap and many other hot-button issues.

The Lanthorn encourages Grand Valley State University students to take a stand. While the education students receive in the classroom is important, college is also the perfect time to hold meaningful conversations about important issues like the ones listed above. Once students leave the academic world, chances to have constructive, meaningful conversations dwindle significantly.

Historically, it has been the college students in this country and others that start the waves of social change. This country is dealing with some incredibly important issues right now, and it falls upon the shoulders of the young people of this country to start the chain reaction that leads to meaningful progress.

Again, we want to reiterate that in no way is the Lanthorn encouraging GVSU students to riot, incite or participate in violent actions or hate speech.

But we do encourage you to make use of the multiple free speech zones on campus, to write letters and emails to your congressional representatives, to take to social media to express your opinions or even write a letter to the editor of the Lanthorn.

As President Obama said in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, it’s 2015, people. It’s time to make some significant progress forward.