Academy to Celebrate King’s Legacy

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. - Ibram X. Kendi

The legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. will be celebrated on Friday, Jan. 17 with workshops on racial justice replacing regular classes. The day will open with a keynote by Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Anti-Racist. 

This year’s MLK Committee chose to recenter discussion on King. “We start with an idea and then try to frame and connect that idea to MLK,” upper and committee member Dillon Mims said. “From there, we branch out that idea as much as possible and explore its elements, and those elements then become workshops.”

The day will continue with a selection of workshops led by 16 workshop leaders in two sessions. One workshop, “Half and Half: Food and Liberation,” will be mandatory for all students. Led by chef Kurt Evans and culinary historian Michael Twitty, the workshop will foster discussion on the relationship between food and social justice. Evans, the founder of the End Mass Incarceration Project, will also highlight the families of mass incarceration victims. 

Students will be able to choose their second workshop from a number of options, with topics ranging from women in activism to writing as a form of freedom. 

The day will be preceded by Unsilenced, a student-led performance with seventeen acts. Unsilenced will take place tonight at 8 p.m. in the Assembly Hall. Lead-up events also included a screening of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun on Friday, Jan. 10, in the Goel Theater.

Senior and MLK committee member Kileidria Aguilar hopes the Exeter community will learn much from the day. “I think, when people think of MLK Day, they think of activism in general,” she said. “Although activism is important, it is also important to know who Martin Luther King was, his ideology, his work for the civil rights movement specifically and the fact that movement set off a chain of other movements.”

Upper and committee member Zoe Barron expressed her desire to incite real change within students. “I’m hoping that the workshops we’ve chosen and the speakers we’ve chosen leave students feeling not just that they have learned something new but are changed inside because of it,” she said. 

Feedback from last year has guided the committee’s work. “I heard that … the keynote [last year] … wasn’t anything super exciting,” upper Dillon Mims said. “We took that note, and we’re trying to move in a more exciting direction—something that will really get people engaged in how [civil rights] can relate to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”

The committee hopes to examine the Civil Rights Movement through new lenses. “[The first workshop about] nonviolent campaigns at the Birmingham Jail will be really fascinating,” Mims said. “It’s sort of unorthodox because it’s not something that you think about all that often.”

In the past few years, on-campus constituencies have advocated for more diverse workshops. “The major challenges for AV were the topics discussed during MLK day and how [AV] wished there were more workshops addressing the Asian population on our campus,” Asian Voices (AV) co-head David Kim said.

This year, guest Maddie Schumacher will be presenting the workshop “Asian American and Black Coalitions: Lessons from Martin Luther King,” aimed at adressing interracial organizing and active allyship between black and Asian people.

Returning students look forward to learning more about diversity within the community. “[Previously,] it was inspiring to hear other people’s stories, but it was also mind-opening to realize that there is so much experience represented by our student body,” upper Hassane Fiteni said.

“I love how Exeter actually dedicates a day towards social justice issues facing society, instead of other schools who ignore these issues,” Kim added.

New students expressed similar excitement. “It really means a lot to me that Exeter takes this special day out of our class schedule to just learn about other people and other cultures and to be more accepting,” prep Sinna Oumer said. “I’m looking forward to see how [students’] perspectives will be changed by the workshops that day.”

Students hope that MLK Day will be one of both remembrance and inspiration. “I hope to remind people that the struggle for equality and justice is not over and that everything we do—listening to the people coming to share their stories included—is one more step towards progress,” Barron said. “Although it may not seem like it, we can all help work towards that progress.”