I went to high school in New Hampshire, one of the last states to honor MLK Day as a holiday. As a result of the state’s sad history of not honoring the fallen civil rights leader, my private high school had a tradition of not holding classes in honor of Martin Luther King Day and instead using the day to hold workshops on what I’d broadly describe as diversity issues. Subjects ranged from on campus ethnic tensions to gay rights to how Title IX works and so on.

One of the workshops I attended my senior year was facilitated by a representative from Students for a Free Tibet and was about the modern history of Tibet, the invasion by Mao’s Red Army in 1949-1950, and the subsequent fifty years of China’s military occupation of Tibet. The talk was given by Lhadon Tethong, then SFT’s Programs Director, but now SFT’s Executive Director. She’s a Canadian Tibetan, having been born in exile and grown up in and around Tibetan refugee communities, hearing stories from her family about Tibet, the Chinese occupation, and what it means to be a Tibetan patriot. These are the stories she told us on Martin Luther King Day in January, 2000 and something in me clicked.

Maybe it was that I hadn’t had the opportunity to think about Tibet in a full and authentic way before. Maybe I just was ready to give myself to a worthy cause — despite dabbling in work with environmental protection, the homeless, and anti-death penalty campaigning, I’d never found myself fully invested in a movement. Maybe it was hearing an impassioned, educated, clear call for help for the Tibetan people by a Tibetan (and not, say Richard Gere or Steven Seagal). Whatever the case, I was convinced.

I immediately got involved in my high school’s SFT chapter and before I new it I was participating in a relay hunger fast, helping fundraise for SFT’s international headquarters, interning at SFT’s office in New York, and taking part in protests outside the World Bank. I found it easy to devote myself to a cause that I saw as true and just and right. The Tibetan people in exile and inside Tibet needed help amplifying their voice for independence. I would do what I could to make it possible.

I started working for Students for a Free Tibet in a full time capacity in the spring of 2005. I worked for two full years doing operations and communications work before leaving to join the Dodd campaign. I’ve remained in close contact with my friends and coworkers from the Tibet movement and have no doubt that I will continue to work towards Tibetan independence as long as I have to until Tibet is free.

I say all of this and am reminded that my eight years working in support of Tibetan independence started as part of a celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life. I believe people have a right not to be treated as second class citizens, not to be silenced, not to have their religious beliefs banned or limited, and not to be imprisoned for voicing their opposition to a harsh military dictatorship. These are not extreme positions to hold, but ones steeped in democracy and respect for the rule of law. I believe this is work closely in line with the example set by Dr. King.