Annual AUWCL MLK Celebration Honors Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Jan. 22, 2020
Students, faculty and staff gathered Tuesday, Jan. 21 for American University Washington College of Law’s 21st annual MLK Celebration in honor of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The event—presented by the Office of Diversity, Inclusions, and Affinity Relations—included a community reading, with 21 participating attendees reading excerpts from King's "Where Do We Go From Here?" annual report, delivered at the 11th Convention of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference on Aug. 16, 1967.
King had a special relationship with the law, particularly with lawyers that worked with him during the civil rights movement, said keynote speaker Professor Justin D. Hansford, executive director of the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center at Howard University.
Quoting King, Hansford said “your profession should be proud of its contributions. You should be aware, as indeed I am, that the road to freedom is now a highway because lawyers throughout the land yesterday and today work to clear the obstructions, to eliminate the roadblocks by their selfless, courageous espousal of difficult and unpopular cases.”
“They didn’t do it by themselves,” Hansford added. “They were part of a movement, led by grassroots activists of all walks of life – all races, all creeds, all religions and genders. It was not just the outcome that was significant, but the process. The lawyer didn’t lead the movement, the movement led the lawyer.”
This year, the celebration included students from AUWCL’s Compass Program. Assistant Dean for Diversity, Inclusion, and Affinity Lisa Sonia Taylor noted that one of the many goals of the Program is to introduce students to the skills necessary to become more inclusive leaders.
“In becoming more inclusive leaders, we can be guided and inspired by the work of Martin Luther King,” she said. “His words show us how to look around us and to be concerned about the issues and problems that we see. And if we are concerned, how to listen to the voices of those who are most impacted by these issues, and use these voices to guide our actions.”
In her closing, Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs Brenda Smith said it is gatherings like the MLK Celebration that affirm King’s beliefs and aspirations.
“It is gatherings like this, in community, where we know Dr. King’s words are correct – that the arc of the moral universe will bend toward justice, and we are part of the force that can make it bend,” she said.