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MLK DAY 2016

an exploration of mass incarceration and black citizenship

By Bates College

January 22^nd, 2016

AT THE INTERSECTION OF race and confinement

Photographs by Phyllis Graber Jensen and Josh Kuckens of the Bates Communications Office portray moments from the college’s 2016 MLK Day observance as the campus community and invited guests from near and far explored the theme “Mass Incarceration and Black Citizenship.”

the REv. Dr. Martin luther king jr. interfaith service

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” — The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” April 1963

The MLK Day Keynote

U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, offered a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. that linked the Battle of Gettysburg and the 1963 March on Washington (which Angus King, then a college sophomore, observed from the vantage point of a tree near the Lincoln Memorial). Keynote speaker Jelani Cobb made a trenchant argument for the centrality of race to our history — despite a prevailing view that race, as Cobb put it, is just “a side dish to the main course.”

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Race, Law, and Criminality

“One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” — Martin Luther King Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” April 1963

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Lunch and a Book Discussion

Students have lunch with Jelani Cobb in Commons, while upstairs, faculty, students, and staff discuss Michelle Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.

Race, justice, and reform Group

“This is a justice that is not about getting even, but about getting well.”— Fania Davis, Restorative Justice Oakland Youth

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The Rev. Benjamin Elijah Mays ’20 Debate

This year’s traditional Benjamin Mays Debate gave student debaters from Bates and Morehouse a chance to argue the value of police reform vs. prison reform.

sankofa presents "all that we are: the Afro-woman's story"

Founded by Bates students in 2010, Sankofa explores the history and diverse array of experience of the African diaspora through dance, music, theater, and spoken word. This year Sankofa illuminated the experiences and stories of Afro-women internationally linked by the theme of storytelling and friendship.

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THE MLK read-in

The day after MLK Day, Associate Dean of Students James Reese speaks with sixth graders at the Martel School in Lewiston during the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Read-In.