BOWIE, Md. — On Tuesday morning, Bowie State University celebrated the opening of the new liberal arts building in the name of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“It is here that we hope Dr. King’s legacy will live on throughout the students that walk through those doors,” said Aminta Breaux, President of the university.
In the new center’s atrium, Maryland state leaders and Bowie State faculty celebrated the new classrooms and technology open to the Bulldog family. But this building has a personal meaning for the school and its students.
“The Martin Luther King Jr. Center does indeed include a special enclave of recognition of First Lt. Richard Collins III,” Breaux said.
On the second floor of the building, we found Richard and Dawn Collins, in front of their son’s tribute.
“The first thing [I think of when I see it] is why…why [did this have to happen?]” Dawn Collins said.
In 2017, a University of Maryland student stabbed Lt. Richard Collins III to death. A jury found his killer guilty of murder. However, despite evidence of racist social media, a judge threw out hate crime charges. Which led to the Collins family working relentlessly to have laws changed in Maryland. The first of their many tributes to their son.
“What Dr. King stood for, what Lt. Collins stood for had nothing to do with the pigment of their skin, but the essence of who they were,” Dawn said of her son.
Now in the shadow of their son’s likeness, the parents see the formation of his legacy.
“I feel him here and I know he would be overjoyed,” Richard Collins said.
The parents hope new students will learn a lesson their son taught them.
“Resilience, it’s not easy, no one told you it was gonna be easy but have that ‘can-do’ spirit like Lt. Collins,” Dawn said.
A celebration of a new building on campus with a new tribute to a fallen Bulldog.