MLK Day Celebration 2020!

"Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities. . . Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."

- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail

Mark your calendar and clear the day! The excitement is building for a full day of service, learning, and celebration on and off campus Monday, January 20, in honor of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The entire weekend is full of opportunities to engage, connect, and celebrate. Be sure to visit the MLK, Jr. Celebration page to see all the amazing things planned, and a huge THANK YOU to Celeste Thomas and those on the MLK, Jr. planning committee who have put so much time and energy into making all of this possible!

Raising Our Collective Consciousness

“What's the problem with being "not racist"? It is a claim that signifies neutrality: "I am not a racist, but neither am I aggressively against racism." But there is no neutrality in the racism struggle. The opposite of "racist" isn't "not racist." It is "antiracist." What is the difference? One endorses either the idea of a racial hierarchy as a racist, or racial equity as an antiracist . . .One either allows racial inequities to persevere, as a racist, or confronts racial inequities as an antiracist. There is no in-between safe space of "not racist." The claim of "not racist" neutrality is a mask for racism. This may seem harsh, but it's important at the outset that we apply one of the core principles of antiracism, which is to return the word "racist" itself back to its proper usage. "Racist" is not - as Richard Spencer argues - a pejorative. It is not the worst word in the English language; it is not the equivalent of a slur. It is descriptive, and the only way to undo racism is to consistently identify and describe it - and then dismantle it. The attempt to turn this usefully descriptive term into an almost unusable slur is, of course, designed to do the opposite: to freeze us into inaction.”

- Ibram Kendi, How to Be An Antiracist

Most of us at some point have described ourselves as "not racist". In his new book, How To Be An Antiracist (One World, at 305.800973 K33h 2019 in the Hartzler Library), Dr. Ibram Kendi argues that "not racist" is actually not an option. Either one is complicit in supporting racist policies that harm people differentially, or one actively supports the creation of equitable or antiracist policies - there is no in between. What makes this complicated is that all of us can in some moments be racist, and in other moments be an antiracist. In the book, Kendi talks about his journey as he confronts his own racist thought and actions and his attempts to become an antiracist. The analysis for this framework is grounded in his historical work which is presented in his award-winning book, Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America (Nation Books), in the Hartzler Library at 305.800973 K33s 2016. 

Dr. Kendi was profiled in the Washington post last October. In a commencement speech last year, "Are you an intellectual?", he asks university graduates to affirm their commitment to ongoing learning and action.

For more on the history of racism and how to fight it, see "A racial equity bibliography," regularly updated by the Racial Equity Institute.