Harvard Law School Professor Lani Guinier delivers MLK Week keynote speech in Plachta Auditorium

• Tweet
• 

Central Michigan University students and Mount Pleasant residents came together Wednesday night to see keynote speaker Lani Guinier in Warriner Hall’s Plachta Auditorium.

The event, hosted by the Multicultural Academic Student Services, featured Guinier speaking about race and class issues in America.

Guinier said she has known since she was a young girl she wanted to be a civil rights activist.

“I was 12 years old when I knew I wanted to be a civil rights activist,” Guinier said. “I watched Constance Baker Motley and James Meredith on TV as Motley took Baker to the University of Mississippi, which was an all-white school at the time.”

Guinier was the first African American to be appointed to a tenured professorship at Harvard Law School in 1998 and talked about the problem of race and class having more to do with financial issues than race issues.

Assistant Director of Multicultural Student Services Keisha Janney said there was a strong interest from University President George Ross to have Guinier speak on campus.

“I did not expect the auditorium to be filled,” Janney said. “It’s fascinating to see so many students interested in her message.”

Janney said the university paid Guinier a $17,000 fee to come give the speech.

Guinier gave several examples of these issues by relating it to what Martin Luther King Jr. stood for.

“I thought it was very interesting,” said Grand Ledge sophomore Sarah Robinson. “It was an informative, uplifting speech with practical, specific examples.”

Like Guinier, King fought for equality among people of every race and Detroit senior Jerell Erves said he thought Guinier did a good job reiterating the need for unity.

“She did an excellent job,” Erves said. “She promoted unity among all people and MLK Jr. did that as well by demonstrating a lifestyle that supported love.”

Guinier said there has been an economic downward spiral because of race, and more money is being spent by politicians on building prisons rather than higher education institutions. She said there are more people incarcerated in the U.S. than any other country.

Marshall senior Justin Miller said he believes learning from each other and cooperation will lead to social cohesion.

“She brought up the difference between race and class and how because they’re so interchangeable they create each other,” Miller said.

Cole said she believes King is still relevant today because his dream isn’t yet accomplished.

“There is still poverty and discrimination that exists,” Cole said. “He [King] would be honored, but not fulfilled, because there is still room to grow.”