Remembering the King: Where do we go from here?

“Dr. King is alive and talking to you about the dynamic reality of living history today,” said Juan Williams, keynote speaker at the 48th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Convocation celebration at Jackson State University.

Williams, author and politcal analyst, spoke to a packed audience on Jan. 15 at the event sponsored by the Margaret Walker Center at JSU.

Williams added, “A living history and the idea of a living Dr. King at age 87 is so real because he is helping to shape, influence, inspire us as we deal with the ongoing history of race in America… You have to understand that as these atrocities are occurring there is a black man in the White House. You also have a black attorney general.”

Students, faculty, staff and JSU community partners gathered in the Rose E. McCoy Auditorium  to listen to the speech of Williams, a reporter for National Public Radio and the Washington Post. Williams is also a political analyst for Fox News.

With an extensive and impressive resume of accomplishments, Williams has interviewed many power players and elected officials including: President Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush and Ronald Reagan. He is most noted for his acclaimed novel, “Eyes on the Prize”.

Williams would later receive the 2016 For My People Award at the MLK convocation luncheon held later that day. Other recipients of the award included: the Ida B. Wells-Barnett Museum in Holly Springs, Miss., the Emmett Till Interpretive Center in Sumner, Miss. and the Beta Delta Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.

Williams used many events and occurrences in “Eyes on the Prize” as examples when speaking at the convocation.  He encouraged students to be great and thoughtful in their actions. He also advised each student to be wise.

“People will look to you for leadership and guidance the same way they looked to Dr. King,” said Williams. “You are alive.  You’ve got to hold on and thank God for this moment in history and shape it for what you want it to be.”

Many students were pleased with this year’s convocation speaker selection.

“I’m really glad that we invited Juan Williams because he’s written a lot of books and started a lot of publications to actually spark conversations that we need to have in America. There is a lot of racial controversy out there that a lot of people don’t know about or they’re scared to know the truth about,” said Ruquaya Calmes, a junior marketing major from Little Rock, Ark.

Calmes added: “I like the fact that I saw a lot of students here and they actually sat through the program just to hear what was said. The ending, especially what the last speaker said about voting, I thought that needed to be said because how can you say black lives matter but you don’t go to the voting polls to vote.”

The message behind Williams’ speech helped some students understand more about society.

“There’s still more change to come. I loved the program. I enjoyed it, I really did. I got the message.  I know that there’s more that we need to change in this world and hopefully one of these students can do it,” said Cynthia Gooden, a sophomore business administration major from Jackson, Miss.

Williams ended his address by urging the young audience to shape history the way they want it to be, proclaiming to the audience, “God is with you; keep on marching on.”

Former Jackson State professor, Margaret Walker Alexander, began the MLK Birthday Convocation at Jackson State to honor Dr. King just nine months after his assassination in 1968, making it one of the earliest celebrations of the civil rights leader’s birthday in the nation.

MC 301-02 Students Ashli Coggins, Alexandria Galtney, Maya Parker and William Kelly contributed to this story.