Looking out at the audience gathered in Gomes Chapel on Monday morning, Erica Chenoweth, an expert on nonviolent protest and this year鈥檚 Martin Luther King Jr. keynote speaker, piqued the audience鈥檚 interest by saying they could easily mount a big, DIY nonviolent protest that very evening. 

鈥淟et鈥檚 say we all got on social media and said we are organizing a mass demonstration tonight in, say, Portland, and we said, 鈥楤e there or be square,鈥� and we had a couple of fun little slogans. I kid you not: We could get 10,000 people to do it, just like that.鈥�

Yet the ease of creating such a protest, said Chenoweth, is partly why nonviolent movements around the world are achieving less success than ever: Organizers are embracing easy tactics instead of doing the hard work that marked the successes championed by King and his mentor, the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Mays, 乐播传媒 Class of 1920.

At 乐播传媒, MLK Day can be retrospective, as in 1999, when the writer John Edgar Wideman gave a heartbreaking address, 鈥淟ooking for Emmett Till,鈥� about the infamous and haunting black-and-white photograph of Till, a boy who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955, lying in his casket. 

Other times, MLK Day at 乐播传媒 responds to the 鈥渇ierce urgency of now,鈥� as King said, such as in 1991, when the 乐播传媒 faculty voted to cancel classes and hold a day of discussion about the war in Iraq, which had broken out five days earlier. 

That pivotal moment in 乐播传媒鈥� MLK Day history was highlighted by 乐播传媒 Student Government co-president Dhruv Chandra ’25 of Kolkata, India, who, with co-president Ethan Chan 鈥�25 of Westborough, Mass., offered a welcome that framed this year鈥檚 keynote as a 鈥渘ow鈥� moment.

“Today we find ourselves navigating similar complexities in a world still fraught with conflict, war, and social injustice,鈥� Chandra said. 鈥淭he values Dr. King championed 鈥� peace, nonviolence, and justice 鈥� are more relevant than ever.”

With a presidential inauguration occurring nearly simultaneously in Washington, D.C., the 2025 MLK Day keynote was here and now. Speaking from the Gomes pulpit, President Garry W. Jenkins addressed the elephant in the room in his opening remarks.

鈥淲e all know how contentious the recent presidential election cycle was. We all remember Jan. 6, 2021. We know that such transitions can be disorderly and even violent. We all, whatever our leanings, understand that these are uncertain times, to be sure. There’s ample anxiety about what’s to come [and] potential changes that may be faced in this context.鈥�

Jenkins invoked the words of Benjamin Mays, Class of 1920, who delivered the final eulogy for Martin Luther King Jr. at Morehouse College on April 9, 1968. Mays said that King 鈥済ave people an ethical and moral way to engage in activities designed to perfect social change without bloodshed and violence.鈥�

And as the U.S. confronts potentially divisive new policies under a new administration, Jenkins encouraged 乐播传媒 to embrace Mays’ and King’s ideas, modeling civil discourse while honoring diverse perspectives.

In light of potential policy shifts that could challenge higher education, Jenkins reaffirmed 乐播传媒鈥� responsibility to learning and civic responsibility. “We will defend to the fullest of our abilities the importance and power of higher education. This may not always be easy work, but it is essential work. It is what Dr. King and Dr. Mays call upon us to do.”

Chenoweth was introduced by Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Tyler Harper, who chairs the college鈥檚 Martin Luther King Jr. Planning Committee. 

Harper linked Chenoweth鈥檚 work on the promise of nonviolent action to H.G. Wells, who, shortly before his death in 1946, predicted 鈥渢hat humanity could not be trusted with nuclear power, that were the atom bomb ever invented, full-scale nuclear war would be inevitable in the near term.”

Yet, 鈥渘early eight decades have passed since nuclear weapons were invented, and they have never again been used in combat,鈥� said Harper. 鈥淭he worst did not come to pass. Humanity proved more capable of restraint than imagined.”

That restrain, that possibility, of “peace and specifically peace through justice and nonviolence, our keynote speaker Erica Chenoweth has devoted their life to studying.”

In their keynote, Chenoweth, who is a professor at Harvard University, shared findings from their book project, The End of People Power. Chenoweth鈥檚 other books include 2011鈥檚 Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict, with Maria Stephan.

Beginning with Mahatma Gandhi and his followers, who successfully kicked the British out of India, and on to the U.S. Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, nonviolent protest has had a good run by relying on training, strategy, discipline, and organization. 

鈥淏asically, we’ve lived through what you might call 鈥楪andhi’s century,鈥欌�� said Chenoweth, noting that Gandhi began articulating and experimenting with methods of organized, collective, nonviolent action in the 1920s, which would spread around the world, including to the U.S., thanks to Martin Luther King, in service of desegregation and dismantling Jim Crow.

Since the early 1900s, nonviolent movements have succeeded more than twice as often as the violent ones, Chenoweth said. 鈥淥n the face of it, [that] gives a lot of credit to King’s argument that there is a realistic alternative to violence, even for revolutionary goals.鈥�

They succeeded through large, inclusive participation, strategic planning, and disciplined resistance. And they use diverse tactics. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 just stick to a single technique like protest or marches.鈥� 

But in the last decade, even as the tactics of nonviolent protest have been embraced in historically large numbers (think of those images of mass protests in Myanmar or Belarus), 鈥渨e have seen a historic decline in their effectiveness,鈥� said Chenoweth. 鈥淲e are now basically to pre-Gandhi levels of the success of unarmed collective action.鈥�

(Chenoweth defines success of a 鈥渕aximalist鈥� campaign as ousting an authoritarian leader or achieving a revolutionary goal within a year, and recent research indicates that the findings are likely also to apply more narrowly, to protests over policy issues.) 

So, organizers, listen up about why protest success is slumping:

Authoritarian regimes are learning and adapting

Autocrats have learned from the successes of past nonviolent movements and developed strategies to counter them. “Many different dictators no longer take for granted that they can just ignore these movements or expect to politically survive in the face of them,鈥� Chenoweth said. 

Autocrats use tactics like narrative control, delegating violence to unidentifiable actors, selective repression, and counter-mobilization. And they share the playbook with other autocratic regimes.

“It’s a very well-worn toolkit,” said Chenoweth, that “blames a movement on outsiders or foreigners, mischaracterizing people who engage in nonviolent resistance as terrorists or coup plotters or traitors.”

Decline in 鈥渄efections鈥�

To succeed, a movement needs defections from key pillars of society, like security forces, which are crucial for the success of movements. 

For example, mass protests led to the toppling of Slobodan Milo拧evi膰 in October 2000. Importantly, those large protests undermined the loyalty of Milo拧evi膰鈥檚 police force. Interviewed afterward about why they didn鈥檛 follow one order to shoot live fire on the demonstrators to disperse them, the police said things like, 鈥淚 thought I saw my kid in the crowd,鈥� or 鈥淚 thought I saw wife’s brother,鈥� or 鈥淚 thought I saw the guy who sells me liquor on Saturdays.鈥�

In other words, Chenoweth said, 鈥渁 very large and diverse participation [in protests] activates all kinds of loyalty questions that can prove politically very powerful.鈥�

But today鈥檚 regimes 鈥渉ave figured out how to proof themselves against consequential defections in ways that movements haven’t fully grappled with.鈥� What movements might do, said Chenoweth, is be more strategic. Do homework. Get some intel. Find out which of the pillars, 鈥渨hether they’re business elites or state media or security forces, are already a little shaky in their loyalty, and go for them first, and that activates the cascade of defections.鈥�

Over-reliance on mass demonstrations

As noted earlier, movements today are choosing to pick the 鈥渓ow-hanging fruit鈥� of the nonviolence orchard, neglecting deeper preparation or strategy, or another tactic altogether that might not be photo-friendly.

鈥淚f we are in an Instagram world, what could be cooler than 鈥� Yet tactics like a stay-at-home action might be just as effective, 鈥渂ut people don’t know what they’re looking at when they look at a photo of an empty marketplace in Kashmir. I’m sure that it took them longer to prepare for and to execute the stay-at-home demonstration and a general strike than it does for us to whip up a mass demonstration.鈥� 

Today鈥檚 movements 鈥渕ight be missing out on some of the real political power that can be built and developed by basically training, preparing, thinking about a strategy of impacting those pillars and then organizing tactics to match the strategy.鈥�

Lack of training and preparation

Movements today often lack the organizational foundations and training in nonviolent resistance seen in past successful movements. 

“Maybe movements today haven’t had the deep civil society organizational basis and the preparation that movements like the civil rights movement and the noncooperation movement in India spent years developing before they ever mobilized.”

Smaller average participation

Movements today tend to mobilize smaller proportions of the population compared to earlier successful movements.

鈥淢ovements in the 1990s and the 1980s [had] some of the biggest movements…. 3 to 5 percent of the population participated in these mass movements. Now we’re more down to the average campaign getting about 1 percent.鈥�

During the audience Q&A, a student said that he was struck by a scene in Fantastic Mr. Fox, when the minor character Petey adopts a revolutionary tone yet remains loyal to the farmers, helping them dig out the foxes. 鈥淭hat’s a little bit what I feel like sometimes when I’m rallying against the machine [yet] do all these things that support all the institutions in power.鈥�

When you feel complicit in something or otherwise struggling to go along, you have three choices, Chenoweth said, referencing Albert Hirschman鈥檚 book Exit, Voice, and Loyalty.  鈥淥ne is exit, which is just get out of there and go do what you want to do. The second is voice, which is protest, and the third is loyalty, which is basically just acquiescing and going along.鈥�

Each person must make their own choice, each person must 鈥渆xamine your values, where your heart is, and your future aspirations. Be real with yourself. Write down what you鈥檙e trying to achieve in the world and how you are going to behave and not behave in order to live your values.鈥�

With the help of friends, advisers, and mentors, Chenoweth wrote their own personal ethical code, as a way to live their values.

While Chenoweth wasn鈥檛 trying to be directive, 鈥渢here are reference points for the values that we might align to. And those are things like or the and the incredible aspirations defined in it, which inspired even the civil rights movement in making the claim that all people are equal in the eyes of God.鈥�

Ultimately, Chenoweth noted, 鈥淚 spent a lot of time working with and for people who are involved in the very movements that I study. They inspire me and give me a lot of hope.鈥�

This year鈥檚 MLK Day celebration, themed 鈥淏ending Toward Justice: Peace and Nonviolence,鈥� brought together students, faculty, staff, and community members for art and action, discussion and debate. 

Here鈥檚 an in-depth, hour-by-hour look at MLK Day 2025 through photographs and words.

8:34 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 19: Speaking (and Dancing) Their Truth

The night before the full day of programming on MLK Day, the 乐播传媒 community gathered in Gomes Chapel for the MLK Spoken Word Festival, where students and community guests shared themes of peace and nonviolence. 

Misaki Fukushima, a Hirasawa Scholar from Tokyo, evoked the horrors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki through her performance, in which she danced to Beethoven鈥檚 sonata 笔补迟丑茅迟颈辩耻别 and read a poem by a Japanese physician and survivor of the Nagasaki attack, Takashi Nagai.  

鈥淎lthough I am not from Nagasaki or Hiroshima, I grew up hearing stories of the devastation caused by atomic bombs,鈥� says Fukashima, who hand-wrote the poem on Japanese paper and carried it in the form of an origami crane throughout her dance to symbolize peace. 

鈥淎s an artist, I often feel powerless to directly impact immense issues like war and peace. However, through dance, I can empathize with the suffering of others and convey those emotions.”

The college’s historic Hirasawa Scholar program, named after Kazushige Hirasawa 鈥�36, brings Japanese university students to campus for one year.

Seen here is Joseph Jackson, a formerly incarcerated person, reading his poetry. 鈥淚f our words were songs, we鈥檝e sung we鈥檙e hurt. We sung it in the church. We sung it to the judges, jurors, lawyers and the clerk.鈥� 

Jackson, a founder of the Maine State Prison chapter of the NAACP, now serves as co-executive director of community programs at Maine Inside Out, a Lewiston-based nonprofit that creates theater for social change in schools, prisons, and in the community.

Musician Kenya Hall鈥檚 music and words were clear and on point: 鈥淚 need you to wake up! Wake up! Wake up!鈥� 鈥� a fitting way to end Sunday evening鈥檚 MLK Spoken Word festival and propel the campus community toward Monday鈥檚 full day of programming.

9:54 a.m., Monday, Jan. 20: Media on MLK Day

After the keynote ended, President Garry W. Jenkins took a few minutes to talk to a NewsCenter Maine reporter, Alex Haskell, about the tradition of Martin Luther King Jr. Day programming at 乐播传媒, which dates back to the 1980s.

Haskell was particularly interested in the relationship between two giants of the Civil Rights Movement, Class of 1920 graduate Benjamin E. Mays and King himself, Mays having served as King鈥檚 early mentor, friend, and finally eulogizer.

NewsCenter鈥檚 coverage centered that relationship in both and stories about the day. “Today’s message is about how we can all think about our role in social change,” Jenkins told Haskell.

The Sun Journal鈥�s Joe Charpentier , sharing highlights of Chenoweth鈥檚 research on nonviolent protest with readers.

10:45 a.m. Snowy Strolling

Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Tyler Harper, who chairs the college’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day Planning Committee, walks past the Mouthpiece featuring this year’s poster for the MLK Day theme, “Bending Toward Justice: Peace and Nonviolence.”

10:48 a.m. Fashion as Subversion

Janie Phillips ’27, an English major from Portland, Ore., shared her presentation on the Black Dandy, a figure who pushes back the norms of white supremacy by 鈥渄ressing to live, and living to dress.鈥�

She walked the audience through the history of the Black Dandy, tracing its origins to the 18th century,  when enslaved and freed Black individuals used fashion as a form of resistance and self-expression.

Phillips asked the workshop participants to discuss their ideas of what it means to be a gentleman, highlighting the standards of white supremacy which the Black Dandy operated within and subverted.

Drawing information primarily from the book Slaves to Fashion by Monica L. Miller, Phillips brought the audience to the present day, showing photos of modern day dandyism at the Met Gala and giving the audience a deeper appreciation for how clothing can be a form of both personal and political resistance.

11:07 a.m. Wealth as Resistance

鈥淚 just love talking about rich Black folks,鈥� quipped Andrew Goddard 鈥�27 as he presented the history of the Greenwood district of Tulsa, Okla., a Black neighborhood famously known for its economic prosperity in the early 1900s 鈥� and infamously known for being destroyed by a white mob over just two days of murder and mayhem in 1921.

Goddard鈥檚 presentation grew out of a project he completed last fall for the course “Black Resistance from the Civil War to Civil Rights,鈥� taught by Frances Bell, a visiting assistant professor of history. 鈥淚 thought about the concept of Black wealth,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 concluded that garnering capital in a nation where our ancestors were once viewed as capital may be the greatest form of Black resistance possible under capitalism.鈥�

His MLK Day presentation featured YouTube video clips, archival photographs, and his own strong narrative command. For the audience, the net effect was to grasp the incredible economic and social prestige of a district that was dubbed the 鈥淏lack Wall Street.鈥� 

鈥淭hey had up to 600 businesses in the district. I know that number is huge 鈥� just absurd 鈥� in a 35-block radius. Unreal,鈥� he said. 鈥淔orty grocery stores, 30 restaurants, at least 15 physicians, some of which were regarded as some of the most talented in the country. And six private airplanes, which at the time was kind of just a weird flex!鈥�

A mob destroyed the district and killed upward of 300 people from May 31 to June 1, 1921. There are two known survivors of the massacre, Viola Fletcher and Lessie Benningfield Randle, both over 100 years old, but legal efforts to seek justice for them and descendants of those killed have not been successful.

As Goddard said in his talk, his focus was not on the massacre, but on what existed and what it meant: 鈥減ossibility, advancement, but even fear that arises as a result of widespread Black wealth, social capital, and unity.鈥�

Reflecting on what he learned from the project, Goddard said that he 鈥渞eally wanted to figure out what this place looked like, how it came to be, and the reasons behind why things are the way they are.

鈥淚 guess it just told me that I like finding the truth.鈥�

11:09 a.m. Biopic Depictions

Simply being oneself can be a powerful action, explained Charles Nero, Benjamin E. Mays ’20 Distinguished Prof of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies, in his presentation 鈥淪exy Peace.鈥�

The talk centered around Bayard Rustin, an anti-violence pioneer and one of Martin Luther King Jr.’s closest but oft-overlooked mentors. As a Black, gay man in the 1960s, Rustin was often an outsider among his fellow activists and in greater American society. 

Nero used the 2023 biopic Rustin, based on Rustin鈥檚 life and starring Colman Domingo, to exhibit how Rustin鈥檚 sexuality and his fight for civil liberties were inextricably linked. 

鈥淭here’s a tremendous amount of resistance to Bayard Rustin as a Black, gay man who is not private about his sexuality, who does not conform to respectability politics,鈥� Nero said. 鈥淗e’s making the activists very nervous.鈥�

As the film鈥檚 characters prepare for the historic 1963 March on Washington, Rustin鈥檚 fellow civil rights leaders worry about how the public will respond to him being openly gay. Rustin asserts that he cannot and will not change how he presents his sexual orientation to the world.

鈥淲hat you see, I cannot conceal,鈥� Rustin says.

11:21 a.m. Community on Track

乐播传媒 students and local children came together for a morning of games, crafts, and mentoring, embodying the spirit of service and inspiration central to MLK Day.

11:56 a.m. Community from the Ground Up

Minquansis Sapiel, Passamaquoddy Tribe member from Sipayik, led a morning workshop, 鈥淗onoring Water and Land,鈥� which centered the wisdom and resilience of the Passamaquoddy Indigenous people in Maine.

Sapiel spoke about her experiences of isolation and frustration growing up Native in Maine and then opened up discussion groups on taking actions to support and grow community.

鈥淟et鈥檚 decolonize our minds a little bit,鈥� Sapiel told the packed house in one of the conference rooms in Commons. 鈥淭hat means assess our values from the heart.鈥�

But first, something had to be done about the furniture. 鈥� I feel like institutions like this…,鈥� she said, gesturing to the lines of chairs set up, audience style, and shaking her head. 鈥淭his whole setup, I would not have it this way. I would not have us lined up and just me out there alone. I would have us in circles engaging, because like I said in the beginning, it takes all of us and all of our minds.

鈥淓ach and every one of us have something to bring to the table. When we learn that and know that, we can create the most powerful, wonderful things. So I would love that for us.鈥�

Once students, faculty, and staff had settled into groups, Sapiel gave them a single, action-oriented question to consider: 鈥淗ow are you going to show up for your community?鈥�

Kyle Woodworth 鈥�25, of Berwick, Nova Scotia, got right to business as facilitator for his group. 鈥淚 think talking about what we can actively do for our communities is a good question,鈥� Woodworth said. 鈥淚 think before we begin we probably want to think about what community means to each of us. That’s a very different thing.鈥� And the group was off and running.

1:59 p.m. Grief and Poetry, Personal and Universal

Cal Dagner ’27 of Crozet, Va., read her poetry aloud during the workshop “Where Does Your Grief Sit?” by Portland鈥檚 poet laureate Maya Williams.

Williams asked the workshop participants to describe physical aspects of grief prompted by the poems, societal expectations about grief they鈥檇 witnessed, and the power of art in the face of loss. Attendees offered poems from different areas of history and parts of the world, all united by the theme of grief.

From rhyming poems by the ancient Greek Simonides to meditations on suicide by Iranian-American poet Kaveh Akbar, Williams guided participants through a journey of understanding grief as both a deeply personal and universally human experience.

3:03 p.m. Malleable Memory

Jenna Dela Cruz Vendil 鈥�06, associate director of democratic engagement and student activism at the Harward Center for Community Partnerships, welcomed attendees to the workshop “Reclaiming Public Memory.”

The session addressed grassroots work in Maine from scholars, artists, and culture keepers that are shaping public conversations. These efforts offer new possibilities for changing relationships that have political impacts on Wabanaki and African American communities.

3:32 p.m. Different Kind of Justice

乐播传媒 Restorative Practices student advisors Risa Horiuchi 鈥�25, John Campana 鈥�26 (center), and Julia Parham 鈥�25 led “Building Bridges for Healing” workshop participants in restorative justice exercises.

An alternative to retributive justice, restorative justice aims to mediate conflict, remedy harm to victims, and discourage future harmful behaviors through community-building practices.

Facilitators began with an introductory activity intended to make the room into a 鈥渟anctuary,鈥� where participants felt comfortable sharing and exploring new ways of communication. In the next activity, attendees paired up to have conversations about conflict focused on active listening and responding.

鈥淚t’s sometimes hard to do active listening because often we are trying to think of what we want to say,鈥� Parham said. 鈥淚 invite you to challenge that.鈥� 

Student advisor Nice Matrakul 鈥�26, Assistant Dean of Community Standards and Deputy Title IX Coordinator Andee Bucciarelli, and Andrew Forsthoefel, the restorative practice systems specialist with the Cumberland County Public Health Department, also facilitated the workshop.

Forsthoefel first learned about restorative justice while completing a year-long walk across the North American continent with a sign reading 鈥淲alking to listen鈥� taped to his back.

In the Western U.S., members of the Navajo nation introduced Forsthoefel to restorative justice, which has roots in indigenous culture. He went on to complete an eight-year apprenticeship with a Navajo restorative justice master practitioner.

鈥淲e have to remember that this isn’t something new we’re making up,鈥� Forsthoefel said. 鈥淲e’re inheriting an ancient wisdom that is finding its way into modern society.鈥�

4:23 p.m. Spreading the MLK Love

Emmy Comrack ’25 of Washington, D.C., prints a 乐播传媒 MLK Day ’25 design on a tote bag during a screen printing workshop in Olin Arts Center. At right is Michel Droge, a visiting lecturer in art and visual culture.

Several student-created designs were available for printing, including one displayed by Sarah Van Lonkhuyzen 鈥�27 of Rockport, Maine, who was one of the first students to ink up a themed screen print.

4:49 p.m. Debating Justice

The annual debate in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall honoring the Rev. Benjamin E. Mays, welcomed students from Morehouse and 乐播传媒 colleges.

Mays, a 1920 乐播传媒 graduate, was a longtime Morehouse College president known as the “Schoolmaster of the Movement” for mentoring Martin Luther King Jr. and other future civil rights leaders.

This year鈥檚 topic was 鈥淩esolved: Law and order exists for the purpose of establishing justice.鈥� It drew from Martin Luther King Jr.鈥檚 鈥淟etter from Birmingham Jail,鈥� in which King decried the inaction of the country鈥檚 faint-hearted 鈥渨hite moderates鈥� who professed allegiance to the civil rights movement yet seemed to prefer inaction to action.

King wrote, 鈥淚 had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fail in this purpose, they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.鈥�

7:56 p.m. Ending Together

In the evening, the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall was the setting for the final event of the college’s MLK Day observance, a montage of student presentations addressing the day’s theme as well as the legacy and aims of social justice. Here, Sebenele Lukhele 鈥�26, a biological chemistry major from Manzini, Eswatini, speaks to the gathering.

Reporting by Jay Burns, Alexandra DeMarco, Mary Pols, Hannah Kothari ’26, and Ramona McNish ’28 of 乐播传媒 Communications and Marketing.

Bryant Terry is a James Beard Award-winning chef, but as he prepared a recipe from one of his cookbooks on Martin Luther King Jr. Day at 乐播传媒, he promised his audience that it would be a piece of cake, figuratively speaking.

鈥淚f you can boil a pot of water, you can make this dish,鈥� he told the Gomes Chapel audience on Monday during his keynote.

The recipe, for tofu curry with mustard greens, came from his book Afro Vegan and was inspired by a friend鈥檚 Tanzanian dish.

As he prepared the dish, he offered his audience cooking tips and insights, while explaining that while the tofu dish is easy, it鈥檚 not intended to be quick. Here鈥檚 that wisdom, plus 13 other takeaways from the first-ever MLK keynote cooking demonstration.

1. Take it slow, if you can

A proponent of the Slow Food community, like one of the chefs who inspire him, Chez Panisse owner Alice Waters, Terry noted that his recipes are criticized for being time- and labor-intensive. “Yes and yes,” he said, drawing laughter from the crowd in the chapel.

鈥淥ur fast culture always has us on the go, always has us thinking about how quickly we can do things. And I encourage us to slow down. This type of cooking practice may not be convenient during the week, but the type of things that you want to make on the weekend.鈥�

2. Cooking is community

American society convinces us to solve problems individually. Instead, Terry said, we should see a more communal way of understanding how we address larger systemic problems. 

鈥淚 encourage you to think about how you can connect with friends, family, and community to make food,” he said.

3. Tofu isn’t always the answer

Terry agreed that sometimes “tofu is overused,” in vegan or vegetarian dishes. “I reject and rebuke the boring and stereotypical way in which people just delete meat and add tofu: 鈥榃here there once was a steak, now I’m going to have a big block of tofu and brown sauce.鈥� We’re not doing that here.鈥�

He did tell his audience to feel free to sub in another protein source. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what I like about this recipe: You can easily substitute chicken or lamb.鈥�

4. Roasting tofu gives it meatiness and bite

The dish Terry prepared calls for roasted tofu, “which gives it a lot of meatiness and bite. Cooked in the right way It actually can be very tasty and filling.鈥�

鈥淩oasting involves preheating an oven to 350 degrees, lining a baking sheet with parchment paper, taking the tofu, tossing in a little olive oil, salting it, and then placing it on the baking sheet and roasting it for about 30 minutes.

“I probably check on it every 10 minutes or so just to turn it to ensure even cooking. That yields a very crispy kind of golden exterior and this creamy interior. So really delicious.鈥�

5. Listen to your body

鈥淲e all need to think about our own bodily constitution, our health status, our age. It may be perfect for you to have one specific diet at a moment in your life, but we need to listen to our body and think about the way in which it’s constantly changing and shifting, and really check in with our health team about how we might want to shift our diet to meet its needs accordingly.鈥�

6. Take stock by using stock

When a recipe calls for water, think about using stock. It’s simple, versatile, and adds depth to various dishes. 鈥淎nything that requires water, if you’re making rice or quinoa or some type of grain, you can substitute the water with stock to give it more flavor and a little more depth.鈥�

Today, he said, “good-quality and tasty vegetarian and vegan box and bottled stocks are available, even in bouillon cubes. I’m not as self-righteous about using those things as I was a decade ago.鈥�

7. Homemade stock is better

鈥淢aking stock at home is super easy to do and it’s pretty incomparable in terms of freshness of flavor,鈥� he said 鈥淢y wife and I make a big vat of vegetable stock every weekend. And what we do is we make the stock, we cool it down, we transfer it to ice cube trays, freeze those, and then we’ll transfer the trays to Ziploc bags鈥� which makes them easier to use the stock in small batches.

A quick recipe:聽

• A vegetable stock can be made with a couple of carrots, a head of garlic, and a few onions.

• You don’t even need to peel the onions, he said. 鈥淵ou can simply quarter them. Open the garlic up with the butt of your hand or butt of a knife, just to smash the different garlic cloves. Add some mushrooms, if you want the stock to have a little bit more umami and depth, and maybe some bay leaves.鈥�

• Add two quarters of water to the vegetables, bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer.

• Partially cover, cooking for between 30 to 90 minutes, more 鈥渋f you really want to extract all the nutrients.鈥�

• 鈥淭ransfer to a colander, press the solids, and you have this rich, flavorful, delicious stock.鈥�

8. Lose that old spice

Toss out your old spices. Terry noted that his mother loves to cook, but like so many of us, has a drawer of spices dating back to the Clinton administration. 鈥淚’m like, 鈥楳om, just clean this drawer out!鈥� Spices lose a lot of their punch as time goes by.鈥�

9. Coax flavor from your spices with heat 鈥� but gently

Every dried spice benefits from a little warmth before going into the pot, in a pan over low heat, but do so with caution. 鈥淒on’t let your garlic or spices burn,鈥� he said. 鈥淛ust cook them just until they start to smell fragrant. You want to avoid, when making a soup or stew, dumping in spices into this big vat of liquid. That鈥檚 going to prevent the spices from fully incorporating. 

When you cook spices with your alliums, it coats them and then it ensures that they’re evenly distributed throughout the dish.鈥�

10. Canned is OK (sometimes)

Terry used canned tomatoes during his demonstration. 鈥淚 am typically pretty adamant about using fresh ingredients, and you might be saying, 鈥楤ryant, I wouldn’t expect you to use canned tomatoes. You want to go to the farmer’s market, go to the supermarket and get fresh tomatoes.鈥欌��

He makes an exception for tomatoes. 鈥淚 am totally fine with using canned tomatoes. I don’t like promoting brands, but I will say that Muir Glen is a really good organic tomato brand.鈥�

With good-quality tomato brands that are organic, 鈥渢hey harvest the tomatoes at their ripe of peakedness, and then they immediately process them so that they’re really flavorful and have a lot of nutrient density.鈥�

11. Pursue vibrational cooking

Allow your intuition and creativity to guide your culinary journey.

鈥淭he goal is that you should be so adept at cooking and have the fundamental skills that you are using what Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor, the anthropologist and author and actress, calls vibrational cooking, where you’re using your intuition in the spirit of jazz improvisation, you’re using what’s on hand, you’re just kind of flowing.鈥�

12. Adapt recipes to what’s available

Terry鈥檚 recipe calls for mustard greens, a staple in American Southern cooking. But mustard greens weren’t available for the demonstration, so Dining Services provided collard greens. 

鈥淩ecipes should be used as a guide. If you’re growing collards or Swiss chard at home, and the recipe calls for mustard greens, please don’t go out and buy this leafy green. Use what’s on hand. It’s really about making these recipes work for each individual and their family and making things as easy as possible.鈥�

13. Food justice needs all hands on deck

鈥淚 don’t expect for you all to abandon your majors and then be committed to food justice activism,鈥� Terry said. 鈥淏ut I do think that we all eat, right. We all eat, right?”

鈥淪o we all should be concerned with creating a more healthful, just, and sustainable food system. Whatever talents and skills we could bring to help bring us to a tipping point. You need chefs, you need designers, you need scholars, you need journalists. 

鈥淲e need all hands on deck to really work towards what I would argue is one of the most important movements of the 21st century.鈥�

TOFU CURRY WITH MUSTARD GREENS 鈥� Bryant Terry 

Serving Size: 4-6

Ingredients

14 to 16 ounces extra-firm tofu, cut into 陆-inch cubes 

3 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

戮 teaspoon fine sea salt

录 teaspoon mustard seeds 

1 cup finely diced white onion 

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger 

1 陆 teaspoons ground turmeric 

陆 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted 

6 cardamom pods, seeds removed, toasted and ground 

陆 teaspoon chili powder

录 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger 

One 14- ounce can of chopped tomatoes with juices 

1 jalape帽o chile, seeded and minced

1 heaping tablespoon chunky peanut butter 

3 cups vegetable stock, homemade or store-bought 

12 ounces mustard greens, stemmed and cut into bite-sized pieces 

2 bay leaves 

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro 

Directions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 450 F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. 
2. Put the tofu in a bowl, drizzle with 2 teaspoons of the oil, and sprinkle with 录 teaspoon of the salt. Gently toss the tofu with clean hands until evenly coated. 
3. Transfer to the lined baking sheet, spreading the tofu in a single layer. Bake, turning once after 15 minutes, for 30 minutes, until firm. 
4. Warm the remaining 3 tablespoons of oil in a large saut茅 pan over medium heat. Add the mustard seeds and cook, shaking the pan occasionally, until they pop, 2 to three minutes. Add the onion and the remaining 戮 teaspoon salt and saut茅 until soft, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic, fresh ginger, turmeric, cumin, cardamom, chili powder, black pepper, garlic powder, and ground ginger and saut茅 until fragrant, about 2 minutes. 
5. Add the tomatoes, peanut butter, and jalape帽o and stir until well combined. 
6. Stir in the stock, mustard greens, and bay leaves and bring to a simmer. Decrease the heat to medium low, partially cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally for 20 minutes. 
7. Gently stir in the tofu and cook for 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaves. 
8. Taste and season with more salt and black pepper if desired. Serve garnished with the cilantro. 
9. Enjoy!

With the Grateful Dead playing in the background, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Tyler Harper led a dozen students through “Just Flour,” a step-by-step, hands-on exercise in bread making that included discussions about environmental justice and African American baking.

With assistance from Phoebe Stern 鈥�24 of Nashville, Tenn., Harper encouraged the students 鈥� most of whom came dressed in T-shirts and sweatshirts ready to get dirty 鈥� to pound, knead, and cut the dough on the kitchen counter, which they did with boisterous zeal.

Theophil Syslo/乐播传媒 College

The four groups worked in a cozy kitchen on the ground floor of Roger Williams Hall, but the classroom buzzed as they joked, shared stories, and laughed together. 

Two years ago, Harper taught a Short-Term course that looked at how we think of food and how we imagine the future of food. The course, Harper said, looks at two ways to think about food: the futuristic kind of 鈥渄ystopian sort of technological meals鈥� and 鈥渁 kind of return to sort of older and more ancestral food traditions.鈥�

Given the fact Martin Luther King Jr. was such an advocate for labor rights and food rights, a bread-baking class seemed more than appropriate on the day that honors his legacy, Harper said.

鈥淭here鈥檚 something about cooking that I think empowers students to go out in the world and feel like they can feed themselves and carve time out of their day to attend to something that isn’t work or the television or TikTok,鈥� Harper said. 鈥淚 would love to see in higher education, in general, food and cooking, food being taken more seriously as both an art form and as something worthy of study.”

Wearing an apron and standing at a lectern beside a table full of mixing bowls and vegetables, Bryant Terry showed the crowd gathered in Gomes Chapel on Martin Luther King Jr. Day just how communal, joyful, and personal food is to him by opening his keynote address with a soulful rendition of the song his grandmother sang while cooking in her kitchen in Memphis, Tenn.

鈥淕lory, glory. Hallelujah. When I lay my burden down, burden down. No more Monday, no more Tuesday, when I lay my burden down,鈥� Terry sang.

An artist, author, activist, and award-winning chef, Terry delivered the 乐播传媒 MLK Day keynote address on Monday, tying together the problem of food injustice today with the history of Martin Luther King Jr.鈥檚 fight against systemic racism during the Civil Rights Movement more than 60 years ago. Along the way, Terry spiced his talk with personal stories and, as a dessert of sorts, ended his presentation with a live cooking demonstration of one of his vegan recipes.

President Garry W. Jenkins first greeted the more than 200 gathered at the observance, explaining that while this year鈥檚 乐播传媒 MLK Day theme of food justice is a modern-day concern, it is one of many injustices King fought to correct before his life was cut short.

鈥淒r. King himself was explicitly focused on the issue of food justice,鈥� Jenkins said. 鈥淪peaking in Montgomery, Ala., in 1965 he said, 鈥楲et us march on poverty until no American parent has to skip a meal so that their child may eat.鈥欌��

Offering further evidence how King raised awareness about the stark inequalities in the American food system, Jenkins quoted from King鈥檚 1960 speech at Spelman College where King said: 鈥淚 do believe that in America we must use our vast resources of wealth to bridge the gulf between abject, deadening poverty, and superfluous inordinate wealth.鈥�

Phoebe Stern 鈥�24 of Nashville, Tenn., one of  the student representatives on the 乐播传媒 MLK Day planning committee, briefly spoke about the prevalent inequalities in food systems today. And Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Tyler Harper, the committee鈥檚 co-chair, thanked the committee for its work and reinforced the connection between King and food justice. 

Describing King鈥檚 speech from when he accepted the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize, Harper noted the continuing relevance of King鈥檚 message, that 鈥渆ven as our politics feel fraught and perhaps broken, we must not lose sight of the most basic political question of who has food and who does not.鈥�

Then after the MLK Day Keynote speaker greeted the crowd with his grandma鈥檚 song, Terry shared with energy, humor, and personal anecdotes how his life鈥檚 work came to focus on the fight for healthier, more equitable, and more sustainable food systems. 

The James Beard Award鈥搘inning chef added with some mirth that in his early days as a food justice activist he was 鈥渢he most self-righteous, dogmatic, judgmental, vegan that you鈥檝e ever encountered.

鈥淚 don’t know if you guys have ever dealt with someone who has a vegan diet, and they are the most self-righteous, finger wagging nanny. That was me, and I apologized to my parents almost every week for putting them through hell for several years because of my zeal.鈥� 

On a more serious note, Terry explained how, just as King did, he came to champion the idea that healthy food should be a fundamental human right. The fact that marginalized communities in the United States have less access to healthy, more sustainable food systems, he said, has resulted in food apartheid in our country.

Terry explained that he specifically chose the term 鈥渇ood apartheid鈥� rather than the more familiar term 鈥渇ood desert.鈥� 

鈥淭he word desert almost makes these 鈥渆conomic, physical, geographic barriers that many communities face seem natural. But 鈥榝ood apartheid鈥� refers to the systemic and structural inequalities in the food system resulting in some communities having limited access to healthy, affordable, and culturally appropriate food while others have more abundant access,鈥� he said.

His love of cooking came from his grandparents in Memphis, Tenn., who Terry said used their example of scratch baking and farming to teach him the ideals of 鈥渟elf-determination, practice of generosity, community care and the mutual aid to meet the immediate needs of neighbors and the wider community.鈥� These early life lessons instilled in him a desire for healthier food systems. 

View the full Martin Luther King Jr. Day keynote gathering in Gomes Chapel on Jan. 15, 2024:

鈥淢y maternal grandmother kept a cupboard in her kitchen that was about 7 feet tall and a foot deep,鈥� he said. 鈥淓ach shelf crowded with glass jars full of preserves, pickle, pears, peaches, carrots and green beans, figs, blackberry jam, sauerkraut, and her not to be forgotten: chow, chow 鈥� cabbage, onions, peppers, chopped finely cooked for about five hours and served as a relish along with leafy greens such as collards, mustards, turnips, kale, dandelions. Listen, my grandmother could work magic in the kitchen.鈥�

His activism took root in culinary school in New York City, at the Natural Gourmet Institute, where he worked to empower young people in neighborhoods affected by food apartheid by teaching them culinary skills and training them in advocacy work. 鈥淥ur aim was to empower these youth to resist the influence of these corporations and make healthier choices,鈥� Terry said. 

Around 2001, Terry said he started advocating more strongly for food justice within marginalized communities after he first attended gatherings aimed at addressing the problem and looked around at those attending.

“These gatherings were predominantly attended by privileged white people, and those who suffered the most from our flawed food system were often absent from the discussions.” He also noticed educational and class biases within the gatherings, and felt those impacted the most by injustices in food systems should have been leading the discussions.

“The conversations often initiated with discussions of public policy and high level intellectual concepts, yet they lack the essential elements of art, culture and a focus on community,” Terry said.

His journey in activism at that time spawned his personal mantra 鈥� that he repeats to this day: 鈥淪tart with the visceral to ignite the cerebral and end with the political.鈥�

While he found inspiration everywhere 鈥�  in art, music, and literature, including some of the hip hop music he played for those gathered in Gomes 鈥� Terry said that two creative works, published 85 years apart, inspired his path forward. One was Upton Sinclair鈥檚 expose of the Chicago meat-packing industry, The Jungle. The other was 鈥淏eef鈥� by Boogie Down Productions and KRS-One in 1990. 

鈥淪urprisingly, it wasn’t a scholarly monograph or a lofty intellectual lecture that profoundly reshaped my habits, attitudes, and political views concerning food. It was a song and a novel,鈥� Terry said.

While a graduate student at New York University in the early 2000s, Terry researched the 鈥渕ethods of resistance employed by the Black working class in the 20th century to combat capitalism and white supremacy,鈥� such as protests and slowdowns in work places that were used as forms of resistance.

Yet, Terry said, he came to advocate for food justice by embracing a simpler approach, such as foraging, cooking, and breaking bread together.

鈥淲hile the food justice movement engages in organized forms of resistance, I believe it鈥檚 equally vital to recognize and celebrate seemingly apolitical acts such as growing food, preparing meals from scratch, and fostering community around our dining tables as profoundly political, dare I say, radical acts of resistance,鈥� Terry said. 鈥淚 celebrate these everyday acts of resistance and view them as accessible entry points into the food justice movement for everyday people.鈥�

Terry closed his keynote address demonstrating his most favorite everyday act of resistance to food apartheid: A 25-minute cooking demonstration in which he encouraged novices, assuaged cooking fears, and served up humorous stories about spices, tofu, and the pleasure of a communal feast.

When he finished preparing the curry dish from his Afro-Vegan cookbook, Terry thanked the 乐播传媒 crowd for joining him on his 鈥渋ntellectual and creative journey,鈥� Then he asked those gathered to consider finding their own accessible entry points to the fight for food justice.

鈥淚 think whatever talents and skills we could bring to bring us to a tipping point, we should bring those,鈥� Terry said. 鈥淵ou need chefs, you need designers, you need scholars, you need journalists. We need all hands on deck to really work toward what I would argue is one of the most important movements of the 21st century.鈥�

His closing remarks were met with a rousing standing ovation from the Gomes audience.

Associate Dean for International Student Programs James Reese closed the keynote asking the crowd to thank Terry again and encouraging them to go forth and enjoy the day full of workshops, and, importantly, bear in mind that King was mentored by one of 乐播传媒鈥� own: the Rev. Benjamin Elijah Mays 鈥�20, longtime president of Morehouse College, and remembered as 鈥渢he schoolmaster鈥� of the Civil Rights Movement.

Scholars, senators, activists, and authors have delivered stirring words from the Gomes Chapel pulpit as part of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day keynote at 乐播传媒.

This year鈥檚 keynote promises stirring words 鈥� and more. Noted author, food justice activist, and James Beard Award-winning chef Bryant Terry plans to stir up a vegan dish featured in one of his acclaimed cookbooks.

Noted both for his culinary skills as well as his exploration into the intersections between poverty, structural racism, and food insecurity, Terry will offer this year鈥檚 keynote session in Gomes Chapel on Monday, Jan. 15. The gathering begins at 9 a.m. and will also feature welcoming remarks by 乐播传媒 President Garry W. Jenkins.

For this year鈥檚 distinctive pulpit-to-platter presentation 鈥� kicking off the 2024 MLK Day theme of Food Justice 鈥� Terry draws from a recipe from his 2014 book, Afro-Vegan, which reimagines various dishes of the African diaspora. He鈥檒l work from a cooking station set up in front of the chapel鈥檚 transept, using ingredients provided by Dining Services, including tofu, mustard greens, chopped tomatoes, and lots of different spices.

Terry鈥檚 most recent book, 2021’s Black Food: Stories, Art, and Recipes From Across The African Diaspora pays tribute to Black culinary ingenuity and explores the shared culinary histories of the African diaspora. In an interview with NPR, Terry described the cookbook as a “communal shrine” to these shared histories. 

Following the keynote are 18 different MLK Day offerings in various places across the 乐播传媒 campus, plus one off-campus field trip to a local compost facility. Programs range from a virtual-reality experience of Martin Luther King’s March on Washington to discussions on food sovereignty in science fiction, decarbonization, and energy equity that aim to explore the many facets of the theme.

Tickets and Livestream

• Martin Luther King Jr. Day events at 乐播传媒 are open to the public. Unless otherwise noted, all events require tickets. See the complete schedule for ticket links.
• Two events, the keynote (9 a.m. Monday) and the Benjamin Elijah Mays Debate (4:45 p.m. Monday), will be livestreamed on the 乐播传媒 website and on .

Since the early 1990s, MLK Day at 乐播传媒 has provided a platform for the community to engage in discussions, teachings, and reflections on the legacy of the civil rights icon.

Past 乐播传媒 keynote speakers include legal scholar Eleanor Holmes Norton (1990), author John Edgar Wideman (1999), 鈥嬧�媋ctivist and educator Cleveland Sellars (2007), and author, scholar, and activist Angela Davis (2021). Other speakers have shared their memories of King, such as in 2014, when U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, recalled attending the 1963 March on Washington.

About This Year鈥檚 Theme: 鈥楩ood Justice鈥�

Tyler Harper and Justin Moriarty, co-chairs of this years鈥� Martin Luther King Jr. Day Planning Committee, offer their insights into this year鈥檚 theme, Food Justice.

鈥極ur Common Humanity鈥�

鈥淢artin Luther King Jr.鈥檚 vision of justice was rooted in an appeal to our common humanity. Nothing is more basically human than food: growing it, preparing it, sharing it,鈥� said Harper, an assistant professor of environmental studies who has .

鈥淥ur foodways are at once a window into the richness of cultural difference and a bridge that reaches across divides of region, identity, history, and language,鈥� he added.

鈥淏ut in a world racked by environmental calamity, economic inequality, war, and rapid technological change, eating is also inseparable from questions of justice. The MLK Planning Committee chose this year鈥檚 theme not only because it is topical but because food is inherently interpersonal, interdisciplinary, and intercultural. It is a subject that every member of our campus is an expert in, no matter their job, field of knowledge, or place of birth.鈥�

鈥楬ome and family鈥�

鈥淭his year鈥檚 theme has the power to connect us all in deeply personal ways,鈥� said Moriarty, who is a lecturer in theater and technical director of the Department of Theater and Dance.

鈥淢ost of my fondest stories of home and family revolve around food. From growing to preparing to sharing with others, food has a way, like art, to allow each of us to fully experience our unique selves. Our hope as a committee was to choose a theme that provided space for our entire community to find ways to fully and holistically participate in the day鈥檚 events.鈥�

Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024: A prelude to MLK Day

A new offering for 2024 is the MLK Day Spoken Word Festival. Held in Gomes Chapel at 7 p.m. and sponsored and convened by the college鈥檚 multifaith chaplaincy, the event will feature powerful words and uplifting songs celebrating the voices of the movement. The evening鈥檚 special guest is

Earlier on Sunday is a screening and discussion of the film Gather, which follows the stories of Native Americans from four tribes who are on the frontlines of a growing movement to reconnect with spiritual and cultural identities that were devastated by genocide.

Monday, Jan. 15, 2024: Keynote and 18 offerings on MLK Day

On Monday, other morning topics include the challenges in reaching food sovereignty in the Lewiston/Auburn area and the intersection of food and mental health among college students, led by the college鈥檚 Counseling and Psychological Services team.

The afternoon comprises two sessions of workshops. The first offers topics like halal school meals, young Mainers’ efforts for food and climate justice, and a presentation by Alicia Kennedy on food and food justice via Zoom. Led by three 乐播传媒 students, one workshop on 乐播传媒 recycling efforts includes a visit to We Compost It in Auburn.

The second afternoon session includes a film screening and discussion of the documentary Nuh-Mi-Bee-Uhn, which and how arable land is at the heart of conversations today about genocide and its afterlives.

The trailer for the documentary Nuh-Mi-Bee-Uhn:

Another session offers reflections on the definition of Maine food by the editors of the Maine Bicentennial Community Cookbook and the Maine Community Cookbook (vol. 2). The editors will discuss their inclusive vision that honors the food traditions of all people who call Maine their home, and bring to the table four different styles of cornbread whose recipes are included in the Maine community cookbooks: anadama bread, johnnycake, muufo, and creamy cornmeal cake.

At 4:45 p.m., the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays Debate, livestreamed on the 乐播传媒 website and the , brings together student debaters from 乐播传媒 and Morehouse colleges to explore the motion that illegal community farms are a just response to food deserts.

The day wraps up with the annual Sankofa presentation at 7:30 p.m. in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall. Organized by the Black Student Union, this year鈥檚 event will be presented as a panel discussion.

“Know that you are, by nature, a creator, a maker of something other than what is. In whatever wilderness you wander, you are all creatives.”

Keith Hamilton Cobbs, an actor, playwright, and 乐播传媒’ keynote speaker for Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2023, began the day in the Peter J. Gomes Chapel with an inspiring message about how arts and activism play complementing roles in our lives, no matter who we are, or what we do.

Watch some of the best moments of the day below:

Throughout the day, workshops, panels, discussions, and creative presentations followed this year’s theme, “Art and Activism,” as the 乐播传媒 community shared how they practice creativity and community in their lives.