Today marks one of the nation’s most solemn milestones, Martin Luther King Jr. Day. In present day 2023, it’s important to acknowledge that the future Dr. King referenced in one of his most famous speeches – a “promised land” he could see from “the mountaintop” – was hoped to be well-established by now. A world defined by human rights for all people, regardless of the color of their skin.
While today is about appreciating the civil rights advances made in Dr. King’s time and in the decades since, it’s also about taking an honest look at where we as a society have fallen short. Civil rights for many Americans have improved since Dr. King spoke so eloquently of his dream, but his hope that people “not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” remains elusive for far too many.
Sometimes, to appreciate the present-day advances and challenges of civil rights in America, one has to delve back into the past. Our Martin Luther King Jr. Day speaker, Simeon Banister, shared his work today on redlining – which prevented many African Americans in Rochester from buying houses in certain neighborhoods – giving us important insights into our local historical and current racial divides. And our ongoing work with area organizations such as those leading presentations and workshops at this year’s on-campus Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration (Rochester Area Community Foundation, REACH Advocacy, The Center for Youth, and Exercise Express), exemplify Nazareth’s commitment to learn from the lessons of the past and work together for a more just future.
Further enhancing my appreciation for the importance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day is an emotional journey I took last week when I joined a group of 30 Nazareth students, staff, and faculty on the annual Civil Rights Journey Solidarity and Social Justice Retreat. Sponsored by the Center for Spirituality, we traveled through Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee with the Living Legacies Project to learn about civil rights history and the realities of racism in America.
Our commitment in this program was to open our eyes, ears, minds, and hearts; to learn about lived experiences from our nation’s past and present; and to learn from and feel that history, all with an eye toward evolving as changemaker leaders working for a more inclusive, equitable, and humane society.
My fellow journeyers, and the people we met, exemplify two of Nazareth’s core values – empathy and courage. We listened openly to and felt the lived realities of an array of people. We met Angela Lewis, daughter of James Chaney, one of three Congress of Racial Equity (CORE) civil rights workers killed in 1964 in Philadelphia, Mississippi, by members of the Ku Klux Klan, who passionately emphasized that, “Every person has an important purpose in this world,” and urged us to, “Stay open and your purpose will find you.”
We also spoke with Hezekiah Watkins, one of the youngest Freedom Riders, black and white activists who worked side-by-side for civil rights in 1961. Watkins starkly stated, “We fought for your privilege. Some of us died for it. Take advantage of the privilege you have today and keep doing something positive, with your eyes on the prize.”
Two powerful days were spent in Selma, Alabama, with Sisters Kathleen Navarra and Patricia Flass, both Rochester Sisters of Saint Joseph, who have dedicated the last 25 years to addressing social inequities in Selma. Our founders, the Sisters of St. Joseph, rooted a strong legacy for us in working neighbor-to-neighbor to achieve a more just, equitable, and progressive world. Sisters of St. Joseph were the only people to provide medical care to those injured on Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama in 1965, as many fought for the constitutional right of African American citizens to vote. Firsthand meetings with changemakers like Sisters Kathy and Pat were potent reminders of the social justice DNA that’s always been a part of Nazareth, and that remains central to our institutional purpose and our individual actions as students, faculty, and staff.
Our journey inspired each of us to reflect candidly on what has shaped our beliefs, behaviors, and experiences – including gaps in our historical knowledge – and the ways in which the color of our skin and other characteristics, identities, and social positions have defined our often-very-different experiences. While this trip may have been measured in miles, for my colleagues and I – and for the Nazareth community we’re part of – it was better measured by the changes we experienced in our hearts and minds.
Today’s on-campus celebration of the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., “Roots for Change: Approaches to Social Justice Action,” called on each of us to exercise empathy and courage in learning openly and honestly about our past and our present. Informed by this honest learning, what is Nazareth’s role today – working neighbor-to-neighbor – to build a just, equitable, and humane society?
Nazareth was founded as an antidote for a society riddled with challenges and in need of changemakers to innovate for collective progress. Nearly 100 years later, we are again an antidote to a society riddled by division and avoidance and in need of changemakers to cross divides, heal, and empower all of humanity.
I draw inspiration every day from our heritage with the Sisters of Saint Joseph, and so many students, faculty, staff, and community partners before us who have worked tirelessly for social justice and progress. And I’m honored to have had the opportunity to participate in a life-changing journey that brought the past to life for me, transformed my current appreciation for what Martin Luther King Jr. Day is truly about, and that will help me better lead Nazareth as we prepare students to make changes in the same way Dr. King did. As he eloquently stated in his 1964 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech:
“We must still face prodigious hilltops of opposition and gigantic mountains of resistance. But with patient and firm determination we will press on until every valley of despair is exalted to new peaks of hope, until every mountain of pride and irrationality is made low by the leveling process of humility and compassion; until the rough places of injustice are transformed into a smooth plane of equality of opportunity; and until the crooked places of prejudice are transformed by the straightening process of bright-eyed wisdom.”
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