Virginia Tech honors legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. with events for 2021
Keynotes will include Ilyasah Shabazz and Sybrina Fulton.
Virginia Tech will honor and remember the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with a series of events beginning Monday, Jan. 18, with a live keynote address by Ilyasah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X, at 5 p.m. ET. This year's theme is “We Cannot Walk Alone.”
Shabazz's event will be followed by another live keynote address featuring Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, on Jan. 25 at noon ET. Nikki Giovanni will open that event with some poetry. Vice President for Strategic Affairs and Diversity Menah Pratt-Clarke will moderate the conversation on Jan. 25. Both events will broadcast live through the InclusiveVT YouTube Channel.
The year 2020 and the beginning of 2021 revealed a number of taxing and discomforting moments for the nation — a pandemic, racial tension, riots, and destruction. Such turmoil also took place in 1968, one of the most tumultuous years in American history.
As the theme states, "We Cannot Stand Alone." The community must be a united front and stand tall to condemn social injustices and seek common, peaceful ground, not hostility or conflict. Virginia Tech recognizes that the legacy of King embodied influential decisions, monumental actions, and unfaltering progressions of humanitarian rights.
King maintained a vision for a more diverse nation where all people experienced the benefits of equality. He understood the importance of unifying the masses in the push for one common goal. His legacy provides an ideal model for how we fight inequality today.
At Virginia Tech, we continue to adhere to our Principles of Community and the core values of our democratic nation, such as human decency and equal rights. As educators, we commit ourselves to promoting these values on our campus and in our communities.
It has never been more important to advance InclusiveVT as the institutional and individual commitment to Ut Prosim (That I May Serve) in the spirit of community, diversity, and excellence.
Visit this page to learn more about upcoming events sponsored by the Office for Inclusion and Diversity and The MLK Celebration Committee.
