Posted by Nia Jackson and James McGinnis
Fifty-seven years ago, a great American, who fought and died for racial equality, gave a masterful speech, and dared us all to dream. Martin Luther King Jr. drew on the words of Abraham Lincoln, and he forced us to acknowledge an epidemic of injustice in the United States.
Two generations have now passed. Old hate found its way to the forefront amid a political climate of division and fear. We now leave to the next generation a society in turmoil. We owe this next generation so much more.
We owe them a society that understands and defends the words of the U.S. Constitution, the rights of Equality, Freedom of Speech, the Press, and of Peaceful Assembly, and speaks truth to power when these rights are abused and misused.
We owe them a system of higher education that benefits all – regardless of ancestry, race, gender, sexual identity, or economic status.
We owe them an education that does not shy away from the sins of history or avoids the uncomfortable topics of systemic racism and inherent bias.
We owe them civil protest when unarmed black and brown people are killed by police officers who hold them down on the ground until their last breaths or shoot them while their backs are turned. We owe to all communities of color a recognition of a deeply painful American history, including just this past year, which was marked by the pandemic, the killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others, and an attack on our nation’s Capitol Building by those who looked nothing like those mentioned above…and subsequently did not meet the same fate.
We owe honor and recognition of the life and work of the late statesman and civil rights activist John Lewis, who marched with Dr. King and spent his life fighting for their united dream.
TAUP leadership, its members, the entire Temple community, and all those who believe in the power of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s dream, must stand in solidarity and continue the conversations, while also engaging in the actions necessary to fulfill and realize his dream. We have much work to do–as a union, as a university, as a city, and as a nation.