Artistically and vividly celebrating the life and achievements of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. is a daunting task for students. But it can be done.

This January, a series of University events seek to do just that. The theme for January's program is "Breaking the Silence," giving a voice to issues that otherwise would go unheard.

In an effort to share these voices with the campus community, the student organization Fighting Obstacles Knowing Ultimate Success is screening a monthlong series of documentaries related to that overarching goal.

F.O.K.U.S. was founded to create a community for students using the arts as a common medium. The group attempts to expose the student body to various art forms for educational and entertainment purposes as well as provide opportunities for local student artists to showcase and enhance their talents.

The F.O.K.U.S. MLK Film Series brings four documentaries to the Michigan League Hussey Room free to the public. A different film will be shown every Tuesday in January.

"We wanted to choose films that were a part of the arts and tied with the MLK theme of 'Breaking the Silence,' " said F.O.K.U.S. co-founder Alma Davila-Toro.

Despite original plans to only screen one movie for the month, Davila-Toro and partner Atiba Edwards chose a bigger idea and made it a monthlong event.

"Film in general is an art form and these directors have brought voice to a story no one has heard and that we need to hear especially in the month of the MLK Symposium," Davila-Toro said.

The first documentary shown was "Music is My Life, Politics My Mistress," the documentary following the life and career of Oscar Brown, Jr., a jazz musician. Brown became known for his great jazz albums and also the plays and poetry that tied into his civil rights views. The film was sponsored by F.O.K.U.S., Whitney Weathersby and the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. The two groups were also responsible for bringing in the director and producer, Donnie L. Betts, who stayed after the film's viewing for questions.

The most recent documentary shown was "Born Into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids," last year's winner of the Best Documentary Oscar.

In the documentary, an American woman teaches photography to children of women working in brothels in the red light district of Calcutta, India.

After the movie, a discussion was led by Residential College freshman Emma Raynor.

"There's been discussion as to if the woman helping the children really had the right to change these kids' lives," Raynor said.

"She knows she can't control their choices (or their) parents' choices, but she can do something that will positively affect them right then."

In the weeks to come, there will be "Innocent Voices," the story of Oscar Torres, who at age 12 joined a guerilla movement to fight in El Salvador's civil war.

"Voices" will be followed by "Paper Clips," a documentary that follows a Tennessee middle school that collects more than six million paper clips to represent the victims of the Holocaust.

Through these films and workshops, students get into the actual issues and events that both unite and divide us. And for a commemoration of King's acts, one could hardly do better.

F.O.K.U.S. Film Screenings
Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m.
Free
At the Hussey Room, Michigan League

"These directors have brought voice to a story no one has heard and that we need to hear."

- Alma Davila-Toro
F.O.K.U.S. co-founder