MLK Committee Emphasizes Sustained Discussion in Series of Preview Events

The annual Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Day will take place this Friday. To honor the spirit of the day, the Academy will be welcoming speakers from across the country to share their experiences and spark respectful debate about pressing social issues pertinent around the world as well as in Exeter’s own community. The events of the day, planned by the MLK Day Committee, will strive to continue this annual tradition and increase awareness about current racial struggles within the nation.This year, all students and faculty will attend a keynote address in addition to one required and one self-selected workshop throughout the day. The keynote speaker, Gyasi Ross, is an essayist for the Huffington Post and has authored two books on the contemporary narrative of Native Americans to debunk the stereotypes that have belied their culture in popular belief. According to his biography, he comes to the Academy to “raise the profile of the reservation populace, often viewed with ignorance as a shadowy world, as well as instill a sense of pride amongst the people.” At the address, Ross will share his perspectives and experiences listening and living within Native communities.After the keynote address, students are required to attend a specific forum-styled workshop, moderated by Sandra Guzmán, a well-respected and experienced journalist for PBS.The forum panel, assembled by the MLK Day Committee co-chair and history instructor Erik Wade, will include mathematics instructor Sami Atif, Chief Political Correspondent of Slate Magazine Jamelle Bouie, Darby Henry ’13 and DREAMer immigration activist and the Director of Latino Outreach for Hillary Clinton’00 presidential campaign, Lorella Praeli.This panel, comprised of experts in many of the worldwide social issues, will offer their insights into solutions and engage students and faculty to reflect upon their positions in the social movement.Besides the required forum, students will participate in a workshop of their choice. The MLK Committee has prepared workshops that cover a range of topics and activities from creating posters for social justice to the dramatic experience of Playland, performed by the Academy’s religion instructor Russell Weatherspoon, accompanied by a multitude of guests. One facet, however, remains in lieu amongst all workshops: they’re all catered to fit the main theme of the day, which upper Charis Edwards, a member of the MLK Day Committee describes as “the crossroads of liberty, oppression and solidarity.”Not only will the plethora of workshops address current issues in society, but also they will dive deeper to the roots of the problems. A focal theme for this year’s MLK Day is the recognition and remembrance of the ten year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the damage that the storm and its aftermath created in 2005. Many of the workshops, as Edwards said, “include information on the systemic flaws that worsened that catastrophe, especially for poor blacks in Louisiana.”Inspired by feedback from last year’s MLK Day on the failure to achieve sustained discussion, the planning committee has incorporated several related workshops, assemblies and events into the days leading up to the events. Through these preparatory events, the committee hopes to challenge and stretch the mindset of awareness by provoking lasting conversation over several days and weeks.“In previous years, students have often felt that after the day has come and past that they don't have to think about the things they learned. I want students to take what they learned and find ways to implement it in their discussions and their lives,” said MLK Day Committee member and senior Nick Madamidola.Along with the linked events, the committee hung large posters all around campus in populated places such as Grill and in the entrance to the gym that display quotes selected by the committee members.English instructor Mercy Carbonell explained the specific locations of these posters, which were selected to exemplify the everyday role that the committee wants this type of active thought and discourse to have.“We wanted to highlight the role of space, of architecture, of the language used in public spaces,” she said. “The posters were designed to allow for contemplation as we move through a hallway, into a building or into a faculty meeting.”Through these messages scattered across campus as well as the day of the workshops, the MLK Day Committee hopes to achieve discussion and positive change not only on campus, but also throughout the global community.Edwards hopes that by coming together on Friday, community members can overcome the hatred currently permeating through and tarnishing many of the conversations focused on social issues. Edwards urges students to seize the opportunity to challenge themselves and each other and ultimately be inspired by their peers and the incoming speakers.Carbonell agreed with Edwards’s sentiments. She said the day and its affairs will hold a greater responsibility.“My hope is that the conversation stays personal and professional and … we may all begin to ask ourselves what roles we play in creating a more just world, one free of hatred and exclusion, one that embraces love, empathy, kindness.”As MLK Day draws nearer, Carbonell explained that it is important to keep an open mind to fully appreciate the discourse and conversation of this Friday. She said students should look forward to a day that will challenge them intellectually, socially and emotionally.“Perhaps the greatest hope is that we will all feel compelled to speak and to listen in new ways, in ways that stretch who we are, in ways that ask us to be vulnerable, in ways that remind us that vulnerability is a strength,” Carbonell said.Contributions from Abby Zhang