REBECCA GARNER
Staff Writer
In honor of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, members of the Pepperdine community are invited to attend a free Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial event Monday at 7 p.m. in Elkins Auditorium to inform students of the Christian reasons behind the Abolitionist movement. The event will count as convocation credit and will begin with a screening of “Amazing Grace,” a film detailing the life of British abolitionist William Wilberforce.
The film’s producer, Ken Wales is speaking after the film. He will be joined by Pepperdine law professor, historian and Pulitzer Prize winner Ed Larson and Don Lawrence of the Office of International Affairs.
Welts will be discussing the importance of the film and the value of its message. Larson will follow with a discussion of the historical aspects and the significance of the story of slavery. The panel will conclude with Lawrence commenting on a clip shown of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech on Washington and a reading from “What Shall We Do Now?”
Todd Bouldin, visiting assistant professor of Religion and Social Science and Director of the Lilly Endowment Grant, has played an integral role in organizing the event.
“We would like to honor Dr. Martin Luther King with this beautiful movie,” Bouldin said. “Ken [Wales] has been involved in our arts and film initiative at Pepperdine. The school is familiar with him and the film.”
Bouldin said there is much that students can take from the event, so he hopes attendance is high.
“We hope to first of all expose our students to a great piece of filmmaking that highlights the importance of Christians standing up for the rights of the oppressed and for justice,” he said.
The event is sponsored by the Office of the Provost, Intercultural Affairs and the Nootbar Institute for Law, Religion and Ethics, as well as cosponsored by the International Justice Mission (IJM) and the Student Film Society.
This is among Pepperdine’s first events put on during a school holiday, and will be followed by a week highlighting tolerance and racial issues. Events include a panel discussion on immigration and a screening of Michael Moore’s healthcare documentary “Sicko” on Thursday at 10 p.m. in Elkins Auditorium.
Senior Mike Masten, director of Anti-Human Trafficking for IJM at Pepperdine, said he is excited to be part of the event.
“As Christians, we believe that we have been commanded by God to help the weak, to be a voice to the oppressed and to seek justice,” Masten said. “We hope that being co-sponsors of this event, we can not only let people know the Christian reasons behind the abolitionist movement of the 1800s, but we can also let them know that the same challenges in regards to sex and labor slavery still exist today and that we, as Christians, are still being called to fight it.”
01-17-2008