Students and staff at the University of Richmond should "remain awake" during periods of social change and work toward joining the "vineyard of justice," Thad Williamson said Thursday during a teach-in honoring Martin Luther King and his legacy.
Williamson, who is an assistant professor of leadership studies, joined Richmond professors and students during a discussion about King and race relations in America today. The discussion was part of an initiative by the Office of Common Ground to commemorate King's life and legacy through highlighting past Civil Rights achievements and discussing steps toward social justice that still need to be taken.
King successfully enacted positive change through careful preparation, use of existing resources and traditions and his refusal to work alone and be a part of a larger network, said Doug Hicks, associate professor of leadership studies and religion. King's relative youth also helped his lofty endeavors, Hicks said, because he was "too naive to know the risks" of his actions. Hicks linked his own experiences as a chaplain at Duke University to King's experience in Montgomery, Ala.
"When I was 23 years old," he said, "I was a chaplain at Duke ... my mentor said, 'You are 23, and that is a gift ... They appreciate your energy.'"
King proved to be a successful champion for social justice because he possessed an unwavering dedication to the American Dream and Christian tradition, Hicks said. As a pastor with high moral standing, he said, the public viewed him as a leader and sought out his help in eliminating injustice.
King called for a "radical revolution of values" in 1967 and 1968, urging Americans to transition from a "thing-oriented" society to a "people-oriented" society, Williamson said. Reflecting on how King would view the world today, Williamson said the university community should refuse to be "protectors of the status quo" and work tirelessly toward insuring justice for all.
African-Americans' economic plight concerned King as much as their social plight, said Tracy Roof, assistant professor of political science. As blacks moved into inner cities and the political coalition formed during the Civil Rights movement collapsed, cities fell into disarray and the inequality between blacks and white increased, Roof said.
Recently, incomes of African-Americans have declined and unemployment among young black men is as high as 37 percent, said Jennifer Erkulwater, associate professor of political science. A growing income disparity among whites and blacks was coupled with an even larger disparity among assets. In 2002, the median net worth of non-Hispanic Whites totaled $88,000, while the median net worth of African-Americans totaled only $6,000, she said.
Similarly, she said, the current unemployment rate among whites is 6.3 percent, compared with blacks at 11.5 percent. Some students said they felt the apparent link between class and race should be addressed before injustice in either field could be righted.
Students and staff also viewed "The Multi-Racial Experience at Tufts," which displayed the problems that biracial students must cope with every day in a university environment. Students of Roberta Oster Sachs, associate dean for external relations, created the film when she was working at Tufts University.
Sachs encouraged students to have discussions with each other about race and use the media to create public discourse. The media could be used to inject a positive message into the debate over social injustice, she said.
Three University of Richmond students - Warin Henry, Keon Piper, and Rashad Lowery - presided over the event, which lasted three hours. Glyn Hughes, director of Common Ground, and Melissa Ooten, associate director of Women Involved in Living and Learning, also spoke.
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Contact reporter Jimmy Young at jimmy.young@richmond.edu
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