During this year’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Week at the University of Utah, crowds gathered all over campus and across Salt Lake to remember the great civil rights leader and honor his teaching. The week of activities kicked off on Saturday as the Bennion Center and its partners organized a Day of Service with activities at the Youth Resource Center, the James B. Lee Justice Center, the Maliheh Free Clinic, and multiple locations around campus. President Randall and Vice President Lori McDonald participated in the food pantry drive at the Union and more than three-hundred students, staff, and faculty registered for activities at the U and in the community.
Despite persistent wet snow that fell all day, the MLK Rally and March on Monday was also an enormous success—with hundreds of university and high school students, along with many members of the community and campus showing up to participate. In dozens of sermons and writings, Dr. King emphasized that the love he wanted others to follow was not an easy path—it required determination and commitment, even in the face of furious resistance. In the East High School auditorium where the march and rally activities began, a number of speakers delivered inspiring remarks, including University of Utah VP for EDI, Mary Ann Villarreal; Salt Lake County Mayor, Jenny Wilson; and ASUU student body president, Taylor Vandertoolen. President Randall exhorted the more than five-hundred attendees to “march audaciously,” before leading the crowd out in the rain to walk side-by-side to the university and Presidents Circle.
On Tuesday, the J. Willard Marriott Library hosted Reverend France A. Davis in the discussion, “Choosing Love Over Hate.” The former pastor of Calvary Baptist Church and university alum, and the current chaplain for the U football team, Davis discussed many of his experiences in Utah over the past half century. Other events included an uplifting musical performance by a selection of the Resistance Revival Chorus, a group of a dozen women and non-binary singers (the larger group includes some sixty performers) that grew out of the Women’s March in 2017. Their performance at Kingsbury Hall was sponsored by UtahPresents, and a second event included a panel with some of the vocalists where they discussed the history of the troupe and its many connections to activism.
On Wednesday, in partnership with the Hinckley Institute, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion held a special MLK Week panel discussion for the Reframing the Conversation series, entitled “Stronger than Hate.” The event was standing room only with more than sixty attendees packed into the presentation room with more participants online to hear the panelists discuss the strategies they use to make more intentional choices and promote inclusive environments. In the evening, Utah Health presented a special movie screening of the film, “Till” (2022) in the Post Theater. Directed by Chinonye Chukwu, the film is based on the true-life story of Mamie Till-Mobley, the mother who sought justice for her 14-year-old son, Emmett Till after he was lynched while visiting his cousins in Mississippi.
On Thursday, the MLK Week keynote address featured the Associate Dean for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging at Harvard Divinity School (HDS), Melissa Wood Bartholomew. Dr. Bartholomew’s keynote focused on racial justice and healing practices aimed at restoration, an experiential presentation that centered on Dr. King’s notion of The Beloved Community and invited the audience to participate and feel their way through the experience. Under Dr. Bartholomew’s leadership, the focus of HDS’s work, especially through its Office of Diversity, Equity, & Belonging, has been on “restorative anti-racist and anti-oppressive [practices].” More than a hundred attended in-person and online to hear Dr. Bartholomew read from Dr. King’s powerful sermon, “Loving Your Enemy” and talk about the ways his words reach across the years and speak to us now directly.
At the S.J. Quinney Law School, the “#LivingWhileBlack: Blackness as Nuisance and the Racialization of Space” event featured Professor Jamilla Jefferson-Jones, the Earl B. Shurtz Research Professor and Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging at the University of Kansas School of Law. Professor Jefferson-Jones discussed how property law and criminal law often intersect in fomenting spaces where black bodies are not welcome. The event brought together public safety personnel and community members to discuss police interactions with communities of color and how relationships might be repaired and strengthened.
On Friday morning, the University of Utah recognized the extraordinary work performed by our wonderful junior high and high school youth across the state at the Youth Leadership Awards ceremony. Dozens of students were nominated and twelve were selected for recognition, with many receiving scholarships to the U for their community service. Their work—to build resources for their peers, fight back against bullying and gun violence, and raise money to help support under-resourced communities—exemplifies the principle of choosing love over hate that Dr. King urged us all to follow.
An afternoon panel discussion hosted by the Office of Sustainability, “Expressing Love Through Food,” also drew a good crowd to a lunch-and-learn event at the Gardner Commons. The discussion focused on the modern food justice movement and featured panelists from the Edible Campus Gardens, the Black Farm Program, Urban Pioneer Café, and the Sugarhouse Community Fridge.
Capping the week off on a high note, the “MLK Jubilee”—featuring food, music, and community at the Black Cultural Center—honored the many contributions of students during the Civil Rights movement.
The 39th annual MLK Week at the University of Utah was an overwhelming success, with many events—including the Rally and March, drawing larger and more energetic crowds to campus than we’ve seen in some years—along with enthusiastic press coverage. Most importantly, attendees and participants experienced in many ways the power of Dr. King’s words and the strength of his example. As he reminds us, “Men must see that force begets force, hate begets hate, … And it is all a descending spiral, ultimately ending in destruction for all and everybody. Somebody must have sense enough … to cut off the chain of hate … And you [only] do that by love.”
