CRYSTAL LUONG
News Editor
Photo courtesy of Ben Young/Photo Editor
In the presence of greatness, Wednesday’s Convocation crowd fell silent as Martin Luther King III, addressed the “triple evils” of poverty, racism and violence in America.
“We’ve got to find a way to provide true justice for everyone, or at least fair justice,” said King, the eldest son of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The program in Firestone Fieldhouse was a part of the Week of Peace, Hope and Justice hosted by the Volunteer Center.
With a mix of humor and seriousness, King’s address called for the Pepperdine community to embrace the ideals of his father, especially that of agape — the highest love, which is “totally unselfish and seeks nothing in return.”
The civil-rights advocate, who has followed the footsteps of his father for more than three decades now, has protested against injustices in South Africa, spoken before the United Nations about the AIDS epidemic and served as the former president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Many students admired what King had to say.
“I was surprised they got him to come to our school,” said junior Josh Ndukwe. “I’ve never seen Convo that quiet.”
Freshman Chelsea Akins found meaning in King’s central message.
“The inspiring aspect was how he spoke about love and how to change things peacefully,” she said.
King, joined by his brother Dexter Scott King, supported an optimistic message for America’s future at a Q & A session Wednesday afternoon in Stauffer Chapel. Resolutions exist for virtually every problem facing society, he said.
“Ultimately in our society, no matter what we choose to take on, everything has a strategy and plan,” King said. “It just takes a few good women and men rolling up their sleeves.”
Racism will be a thing of the past as long as it is worked on, King said.
“One day, we will live in a society with very little racism,” he added.
King recalled civil-rights achievements, such as the Voting Rights and Fair Housing acts of the 1960s, but said there is still much work to be continued and completed.
With the claims of wealth in America, “we have the audacity to have 36 million people living in poverty?” King asked.
The third of the three evils, violence, has become an unfortunate thread that runs through society, according to King.
“Violence seems to be the order of the day,” he said. “We’re products of what we’re exposed to.”
Junior Tracy Andrews agreed.
“America is really violent,” he said. “It is really necessary to love all no matter what ethnicity.”
King encouraged others to find inspiration as he did in his youth from the inscription on a statue of revered educator Horace Mann. The inscription reads: “Be ashamed to die until you’ve won a victory for humanity.”
01-20-2005