Kevin Powell has a simple but powerful message for those who wish to honor the memory of Martin Luther King: read, study, travel.
“He practiced excellence,” Powell said. “You cannot call yourself a leader unless you take reading, studying and traveling seriously for the rest of your lives. We cannot call ourselves Americans if you don’t know who you are and where you came from. Everyone in this room has a responsibility to know about their heritage.”
Powell, an activist, writer and cultural commentator, was the featured speaker at the 11th Annual Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast hosted by the Memorial Student Center Carter G. Woodson Black Awareness Committee (MSC WBAC) at Texas A&M University Thursday. He discussed King’s legacy in a way that meshed with this year’s theme of “moving forward.”
For more than one hour, he sat down with Texas A&M history professor Albert Broussard in front of an audience of students, faculty, staff and members of the Bryan-College Station community to discuss how crucial being a lifelong learner is to becoming a leader, the importance of restoring King’s legacy and what activism looks like in the digital age, among other topics.
When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered. — Martin Luther King, “Beyond Vietnam”
Powell referenced King’s 1967 “Beyond Vietnam” speech at New York’s Riverside Church when he urged students not to lose their humanity.
“My word to young people and all people is do not lose your humanity in the midst of all this technology,” Powell said. “You can’t be addicted to gadgets. You can’t be addicted to things. What we need to be addicted to is love and peace and compassion and empathy and kindness and caring about our fellow human beings.”
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Media contact: Sam Peshek, 979-845-4680, sam.peshek@tamu.edu.
