Peniel Joseph, Tufts University historian and author, delivers 乐播传媒’ 2015 MLK Day keynote address. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

What does the Black Lives Matter movement really want?

Yes, it’s one of those questions that can be driven more by hostility than curiosity. Still, in his keynote address during Martin Luther King Jr. Day observances at 乐播传媒 on Jan. 19, historian Peniel Joseph had an answer ready.

“What they want is a new New Deal. They want a greater Great Society,” said Joseph, a professor at Tufts, author and authority on the Black Power movement. “They want an expansive vision of social, economic and political justice that connects democratic ideals to democratic reality.”

From left, 乐播传媒 Dean of the Faculty Matt Auer, President Clayton Spencer and Martin Luther King Jr. Day keynote speaker Peniel Joseph have a word as the event begins. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

The divorce of ideals from reality was central to the talk, titled Reimagining Martin Luther King Jr. in the Age of Obama and the Age of Ferguson, that an energetic Joseph offered in the Peter J. Gomes Chapel.

Joseph described a mythologized King, the “prince of peace” that for many has supplanted the reality of King’s last years, when his increasingly radical views made even some fellow black leaders uncomfortable. Joseph also outlined the current resurgence of institutionalized racism in a more insidious form that avoids the language of prejudice while serving its goals.

Against this context, Joseph suggested that the Black Lives Matter movement is a sign of hope 鈥� for defenders of both social justice and, in fact, democracy itself 鈥� because it supports idealism with effective activism.

In her welcome to a capacity crowd at the Chapel, 乐播传媒 President Clayton Spencer was pleased to point out that the college’s MLK Day committee had picked the day’s theme 鈥� From Selma to Ferguson: 50 Years of Nonviolent Dissent 鈥� in September, prior to the grand jury decisions about the police shootings in Ferguson and New York City that elevated outrage to a new level.

The Gomes Chapel audience during the 2015 MLK Day keynote address by Tufts University historian and author Peniel Joseph. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

Anticipating Joseph, Spencer said that 乐播传媒’ choice of theme “shows that we on this campus were prepared to challenge ourselves to acknowledge and act on the ongoing stark gap, nearly five decades after the death of Martin Luther King, between the depth of our ideals as a society and our lived reality.”

乐播传媒 people have been prepared for that challenge for decades, she said, pointing the important legal victories for civil rights won during the mid-20th century by John P. Davis ’25 and James Nabrit ’52.

Son of a union member who first took him out on a picket line when he was 8 years old, Joseph said, “I come to activism from a real-world point of view.” He provided both historical and moral context for the day’s programming at 乐播传媒.

Joseph devoted much of his talk to a whirlwind review of signal events in the civil rights movement from 1954 to 1965, as King became the leading voice of the movement. These years, which Joseph called the “heroic period” of the movement, began with the U.S. Supreme Court finding that school segregation is unconstitutional in Brown vs. Board of Education; and ended with a year marked with the marches on Selma, the passage of the Voting Rights Act and the Watts riots.

If these events were news to many younger listeners in the Gomes Chapel, what came next may have been ear-opening to some older folks as well. Joseph pointed out that during the last three years of his life, King became increasingly radicalized, coming out in opposition to the war in Vietnam and in favor of a guaranteed income for impoverished Americans.

Marcus Bruce, Benjamin E. Mays Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies, and Associate Dean of Students James Reese listen to the MLK Day keynote address. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

“We need to be willing to speak truth to power, no matter the cost,” King said, and the cost to him was losing access to the political establishment. “There [were] no more massive standing ovations by the mainstream for Dr. King in 1966, ’67 and ’68,” Joseph said.

In Chicago, even black leaders 鈥� fearing the loss of such patronage as was available to them from Mayor Richard J. Daley’s benighted political machine 鈥� told King he had gone too far.

Today, Joseph said, it’s not uncommon to point to Barack Obama’s presidency as a symbol of how far civil rights have advanced in the U.S. And yet, “the reality that we live in is a much, much, much more complex reality,” Joseph said.

If recent events in Ferguson, Staten Island and Cleveland 鈥� where a 12-year-old African America boy carrying a toy gun was killed by police 鈥� are high-profile examples of institutionalized racism, Joseph pointed out that conditions for African Americans have gone backward in more deep-seated ways as well, from school segregation to incarceration rates to unemployment and poverty.

Many black children, Joseph pointed out, have their first experience with the criminal justice system when they are arrested in school 鈥� as young as age 5 or 6.

“We had a better conversation about race and racism in 1965 than we do now,” Joseph said. “At least in 1965, we admitted that there were structures of racism and racial segregation.” Now our society practices a sort of “color-blind racism,” he said, where laws and policies achieve racist ends while never explicitly mentioning race.

John Smedley, Tim Clough and Dale Chapman — aka the Three Point Trio — opened the King Day keynote event with jazz. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

“Even as we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.,” Joseph said, “we divorce King the icon from King the political activist who’s willing to speak truth to power and who said that ‘injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’

“We celebrate the dreamer, but we divorce the dreamer from the actual dream.”

The emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement, Joseph said, shows that the time may not be past, after all, for realizing the dream.

“The most important, and really hopeful and optimistic, aspect that we’re left with, when you think about ‘from Selma to Ferguson,’ is the fact that so many young people, like in the 1960s, are actually not just demonstrating and protesting 鈥� they are organizing.

“They are organizing on behalf of social, political, economic and racial justice. And they are organizing to try to fill that gap between democracy as an ideal in America, and democracy as an actual living, breathing fact.”

Peniel Joseph, author and historian. (Tom Kates for Tufts University)

In observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2015, 乐播传媒 will examine the great civil rights leader’s commitment to nonviolent action 鈥� and place it in the context of recent events in Ferguson, Mo., Staten Island, N.Y., and on the international stage.

Beginning Sunday, Jan. 18, and continuing through the King Day holiday on Jan. 19, the 乐播传媒 observance addresses the theme From Selma to Ferguson: 50 Years of Nonviolent Dissent.

乐播传媒 students staged a die-in at Commons on Dec. 2, a way 鈥渢o interest people and to get them to think,鈥� in the words of one organizer, about the Michael Brown case. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

乐播传媒 will explore historic and contemporary forms of nonviolent dissent in the U.S. and abroad. The events will fall broadly into three categories: past and present activism, activism in the arts, and activism and the interconnected world.

Taking place at various campus locations, MLK Day events at 乐播传媒 are open to the public at no cost (but certain events require tickets; see below). For more information, please call 207-786-6400. See a complete program at: bates.edu/mlk.

Highlights from the 乐播传媒 programming include:

• the annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Interfaith Service, with an address by Najeeba Syeed-Miller, internationally known for her work in peacemaking (7 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 18, Gomes Chapel, 275 College St.);
• an MLK Day keynote address by Tufts University historian and author Peniel Joseph, whose lecture is titled “Reimagining Martin Luther King Jr. in the Age of Obama and the Age of Ferguson” (9 a.m. Monday, Jan. 19, Gomes Chapel);
• a rich schedule of workshops, described in more detail below, in concurrent sessions starting at 10:45 a.m. and 1 p.m. (see the online program for a complete listing with times and locations);
• the annual Rev. Benjamin Elijah Mays 鈥�20 Debate with students from 乐播传媒 and Morehouse Colleges (3:15 p.m., Olin Arts Center Concert Hall; tickets required)
• and the annual performance by the 乐播传媒 student group Sankofa, this year presenting Black Voice: The Life of Evelyn Ola Johnson (7:30 p.m., Schaeffer Theatre, 329 College St.; tickets required).

More about 2015 MLK Day programming at 乐播传媒

Najeeba Syeed-Miller, internationally known for her work in peacemaking.

Najeeba Syeed-Miller is assistant professor of interreligious education at Claremont School of Theology, and is the director of the Center for Global Peacebuilding. Her work as a peacemaker has made her a go-to adviser for state, federal and White House initiatives and in international conflicts.

Peniel E. Joseph is the founding director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy and a professor of history at Tufts University. He founded the interdisciplinary subfield that he characterizes as Black Power studies.

A frequent national commentator on issues of race, civil rights and democracy, Joseph has written for The New York Times and historical journals, and has been featured on C-SPAN, NPR, MSNBC and other national media outlets.

He is the award-winning author of Waiting 鈥楾il the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America; Dark Days, Bright Nights: From Black Power to Barack Obama; and this year鈥檚 Stokely: A Life, a biography of Black Power icon Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture), which the New York Times Book Review described as 鈥渋nsightful, highly engaging and fluently written.鈥�

乐播传媒 student performers in the organization Sankofa answer questions from the audience following their performance during the evening of Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2014. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

MLK Day Workshops: Featuring Syeed-Miller, Joseph and other guest scholars along with 乐播传媒 faculty, staff and students, the workshop schedule is jammed with sessions. Here’s just a quick sampling from across the range of topics: tools for nonviolent communication with adversaries; an experiment using texting to overcome a reluctance to discuss hot-button social justice issues;

Also, a reading by 乐播传媒 people including President Clayton Spencer of their own writings or historic texts honoring King’s work; a look at the role of athletics in protest and dissent; a review of recent challenges to the Voting Rights Act; and a panel discussion about events in Ferguson.

The Rev. Benjamin Elijah Mays 鈥�20 Debate: The ever-popular debate with Morehouse and 乐播传媒 students honors the Rev. Mays, a 乐播传媒 debater, longtime president of Morehouse College and pioneer of the civil rights movement. This year鈥檚 motion: 鈥淭his House Believes that Violent Resistance to State Oppression is Justified.鈥� Free, but tickets required; please visit or call 207-786-6400.

The Evening Program featuring Sankofa: Founded by 乐播传媒 students in 2010, Sankofa explores the history and diverse array of experience of the African diaspora through dance, music, theater and spoken word, and many other forms of art and expression.

Sankofa鈥檚 annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day production has become a symbol of pride and accomplishment for the African diaspora at 乐播传媒, and an educational and diversifying experience for the entire 乐播传媒 community. This year, with Black Voice: The Life of Evelyn Ola Johnson, Sankofa explores black voice nationally and internationally in events linked by the theme of activism.

The featured performance takes place at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 19, but as an alternative, an open dress rehearsal will be held at 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 18. Both are free, but tickets are required; visit for the dress rehearsal and for the Monday event, or call 207-786-8294 or 207-786-6400.

Exhibitions: 乐播传媒’ 2015 MLK Day programming includes two exhibitions. Paintings Related to the Civil Rights Movement comprises work by Camden artist Jonathan Frost. Created following Frost’s visits to historic civil rights sites in the South, the paintings illustrate key episodes from the movement, including a voting rights march by black teachers and, depicted moment-by-moment in an 18-image series, the police killing of Jimmie Lee Jackson. (Monday, Jan. 12 through Sunday, Feb. 22, Ladd Library, first floor)

乐播传媒 Students and Alumni in Action: A Story in Images documents marches and protests, on campus and across the country, in which 乐播传媒 students and alumni have participated. Compiled by the 乐播传媒 the Office of Intercultural Education, the exhibition reveals events and causes that have stirred 乐播传媒 people then and now. (Sunday and Monday, Jan. 18-19, Pettengill Hall, Ground Floor Lobby)

Annakay Wright '17 of Brooklyn, N.Y., leads a post-demonstration debriefing on the second floor of Commons. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

Students raise hands and chant "Hands up! Don't shoot!" as they exit Commons. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

A student diner walks over protesters stretched out in front of the vegan bar. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

Protesters stage a die-in on the floor of Commons to protest a grand jury's failure to indict the Ferguson police officer who shot Michael Brown. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

At noon on Dec. 2, more than 50 乐播传媒 students put their outrage about the outcome of the Michael Brown case in a place where it could not be overlooked: Commons at the height of lunch hour.

Wearing signs decrying the St. Louis County grand jury’s failure to indict the police officer who killed Brown, along with other infamous instances of police-on-black violence, the protesters lay silent and motionless on the hard Commons floor as their fellow students stepped around and over them in pursuit of a hot meal.

Some 40 minutes after the die-in began, the students rose up, marched for the exit and reached for the ceiling, chanting the slogan 鈥� now familiar from two months of national protests about the Ferguson shooting 鈥� “Hands up! Don’t shoot!”

Many diners were supportive, but perhaps not all. “If people got uncomfortable or felt they were inconvenienced, all the better,” said demonstration organizer Annakay Wright ’17 of Brooklyn, N.Y.

Wright’s goal in interrupting the daily flow of life at 乐播传媒, she said, was “to interest people and to get them to think” about Brown’s shooting by Ferguson policeman Darren Wilson; the jury’s handling of the case 鈥� and what those episodes represent about police brutality and racial profiling in the United States.

At least one diner thought the protest was an effective means of raising consciousness. “It’s a great way for students to get involved with happened in Ferguson,” said Nicole Kanu ’15 of Little Rock, Arkansas.

Wright led a debriefing on the second floor of Commons following the public demonstration. Back on the floor, but sitting up this time, the students shared what they thought and perceived as they lay in the path of the lunch crowd.

The experience led one student to put himself in the place of protesters that encounter a violent response.

Another saw the protest as a perfect symbol of society’s familiar habit of greeting injustice with a blind eye. “These bodies have been stepped over, they have been forgotten,” he said. “This is what people have been doing for the past years and months now.”

“People wouldn’t even break their conversations as they were stepping over me,” a woman said.

Another woman wondered about the relative impacts of making eye contact with the diners vs. keeping her eyes closed. And a third saw the experience as a test of her conviction: She wondered what she would have done if all the other protesters had given up and left.