MLK keynote speaker explains modern civil rights movement
Civil rights activist Shaun King spoke to about 200 students at Central Michigan’s Plachta Auditorium about racial inequalities in today’s society — specifically within the African American community — as part of a week's worth of events to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“The problems have not gone away, they have just changed,” he said. “Racism is here to stay. It will shape, shift and change."
King started with a lecture on equality struggles African Americans face today through the “new civil rights movement” and then concluded by answering questions from the audience.
Commerce Township junior Tyler Shields said the speech was a reinforcement of everything going on in the world and in the news today.
“These problems are big in our society and we have to solve them together as a society," Shields said.
King was asked by a student in the audience what CMU administration could do to make the university more accepting of diversity.
He said change starts with the university president.
“I have also talked to some of the vice presidents and assistant vice presidents (at CMU) who all want it to (change), but it can’t just be wanting it, you have to act and see it.”
University President George Ross attended the speech and sat in the audience among students.
During his speech, King touched on events such as Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson, the lack of diversity in nominees of this year’s Oscars Awards and Flint’s water crisis. He related them all back to race and inequality.
“Everyone knows what’s going on, but no real change has been done to correct it or to fix it and I think speakers like Mr. King will continually motivate the youth of America because he is attractive to a younger demographic," said Milford junior Jake Lennard.
King also shared how social media serves as a huge platform for activists to voice calls to action and share unjust stories as the media industry adapts to ever-changing technological advances.
“Black Lives Matter is obviously extremely important, but to really force true equality we must all see each other as equal and not categorize as black equality, white equality, green, yellow, blue, because police brutality isn’t just targeted at one race," Lennard said. "I’ve seen many videos online of white people getting shot and killed in public. Instead of focusing just on Black Lives Matter I think we should switch the whole movement to All Lives Matter instead of just focusing on the minority."
