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MLK and Trump: Students speak out about Jan. 20

President Donald Trump's 2025 inauguration left students at Â鶹´«Ã½ University with conflicting emotions as it happened to coincide with Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Inaugurations are held every four years on Jan. 20 or 21st if the 20th happens to be a Sunday. This year the federal holiday for slain civil rights leader King happened to land on the same date as the inauguration.

To some Â鶹´«Ã½ students, it raised questions of what this signified.

Kameron Mack, a Â鶹´«Ã½ senior, saw conspiracy in this happenstance.

"I think Donald Trump's inauguration was a ploy to get people to forget about MLK Day," Mack said. "I said this because a lot of states are starting to cover up MLK Day with other insignificant holidays. Some may say that was a coincidence, but nothing Trump does is coincidental,” Mack said.

While Mack expressed skepticism, other students were more neutral.

Kendel Buchanan, a sophomore, addressed the tradition of the date rather than a political motive.

"While it may be controversial, the inauguration is held on the same day every year and just happened to coincide with Martin Luther King Day this year, so I see no issue with it," Buchanan said.

Amauri Wright felt the same way as Buchanan, using the Constitution and the date of inaugurations to get her point across.

"I don't feel any way about it. It would be different if he chose the date himself, but inauguration day is supposed to fall on the 20th. So there's no reason to feel any way about it because it's just a tradition," Walker said.

For others, the alignment of the two events led to thoughts about how the inauguration was framed.

Josiah Jordan, a sophomore, said that though overlap was not intentional, Trump took advantage of a moment with the Black community. “It wasn't supposed to be an inauguration on MLK Day, but I do feel like Trump capitalized on it because of how Black citizens look upon Dr. King as a symbol of our culture.”

He pointed to Trump's efforts to include Black artists and a pastor in the day's events as an attempt to bolster his image. He cast himself as a “good president” for the Black community. At least that was how I saw it."