Business student Chideha Kanu reiterates Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream of love
Friday, January 14, 2022
Media Contact: Bailey Stacy | Communications Coordinator, Marketing & Communications | 405-744-2700 | bailey.stacy@okstate.edu
My name is Chideha Kanu and I have the pleasure of being this year’s student keynote speaker for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration March at OSU. I was born in Oklahoma City to Nigerian parents and I have spent most of my life in Oklahoma but I also lived in Nigeria for about eight years. I graduated with a bachelor's degree in management information systems and I am currently pursuing a master’s degree in business administration. I am also an assistant residential community educator in the Department of Housing and Residential Life.
When I was eight and a half years old, my family, because of my parents’ missionary
careers moved to Nigeria. In my time in Nigeria, I was finally able to embrace my
culture in its truest form and see what it means to be a Nigerian of the Igbo ethnic
group. Though my time in Nigeria had its ups and downs, one of the things it allowed
me to do the most was to exist in a society with people of my skin color and almost
exclusively my skin color. I lived in the largest black nation in the world and in
2017 I moved back to Oklahoma and started school at a predominantly white institution.
I was a 16-year-old freshman whose parents were in another continent, trying to find
my footing in a state and country that I once called home. 
Fast forward four and a half years later and I am slated to speak to the Stillwater and OSU community during the MLK Jr. Day March. I had dreams a lot as a kid but even I could not have dreamt of an opportunity like this. As a poet, lover of motivational impactful speeches and a black student in America, I am in constant awe of mercurial leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. Not just with what he was able to accomplish but how well he was able to deliver some of the greatest speeches around. So, to be able to speak on a day set aside to honor him is a privilege and blessing that I will not forget. I attended the MLK Day March last year and I had the opportunity to listen to the speaker, Caileb Booze, give a thought-provoking speech. As I left there, I knew that if the opportunity presented itself, I would love to speak to our community in a bid to give back to the community that has given so much to me.
One of the most underrated but overused words in the English language is the word “love.” As I read through Dr. King’s speeches one of the key things that he never failed to allude to or mention outrightly was love. It was at the center and forefront of all he wanted to do and what he wanted people to get out of his speeches. At that time in history, responding to racism and prejudice with hatred was a fair and understandable reaction but he chose to respond with love and to teach his listeners to love. The importance of this kind of love is what I want to remind the Stillwater and OSU communities of Monday because it is this love that we all need in a society and world that seems to consistently cling to hate.
I am looking forward to being a part of this march and joining our community to honor Dr. King and his monumental accomplishments.