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MLK Day 2019

This year's theme: “Lifting Every Voice: Intersectionality and Activism”

By Bates College

January 25^th, 2019

‘An exciting day filled with opportunities’

Photographs by Phyllis Graber Jensen and video by Theophil Syslo of the Bates Communications Office portray moments from the college’s 2019 MLK Day observance as the campus community and guests from near and far explored the theme “Lifting Every Voice: Intersectionality and Activism.”

SCREENING AND DISCUSSION OF ‘STRONG ISLAND’

Associate Dean for International Student Programs James Reese watches Yance Ford's documentary “Strong Island,” which chronicles the arc of a family across history, geography, and tragedy. Reese screened the film and facilitated a discussion in Pettengill G52 as the kickoff event for the 2019 MLK Day observance.

a workshop on prison abolition

AK Wright ’17, a graduate of the Program in Women and Gender Studies at Bates and a doctoral student in feminist studies at the University of Minnesota, presented research connecting the project of decolonial feminism to the experiences of black trans folks in the carceral state.

They then led and engaged the audience in a discussion of abolition as a community process, working through the challenges of abolition and connecting folks with concrete ways they can support trans prisoners.

‘women of color leading the way’ in children's books

Children and caregivers gathered in the Edmund S. Muskie Archives to meet visionaries, activists, and world-changers through pictureful pages. In an event hosted by Diverse BookFinder, a Bates College collection of picture books portraying people of color and indigenous people, the children read stories and created art about extraordinary women.

The collection and its landmark online database were founded by Krista Maywalt Aronson, Associate Professor of Psychology, in collaboration with children’s book creator Anne Sibley O’Brien, humanities librarian Christina Bell, and Brenna Callahan ’15.

Esmé, 6, proudly exhibits her portrait of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

A DISCUSSION OF CRIMINOLOGY AND RACE led by Hillview Boys Aspirations

From left, Ellen Alcorn of the Harward Center for Community Partnerships congratulates Ellijah McLean ’20 and Areohn Harrison ’20, who, with Obed Antonio and Reuben Mukenoli, filled Commons 221 to capacity in a presentation on criminology, police brutality, racial discrimination, and the poverty gap.

Working with the Boys Aspirations program at Lewiston’s Hillview public housing community, a team of five men of color at Bates will undertake a research project tackling social injustice. Also on the panel, but not pictured, was Justice Prewitt ’20.

‘May We Forever Stand’: The Black National Anthem

Led by professors Charles Nero (left) and Dale Chapman, “May We Forever Stand” took as its point of departure Imani Perry’s recent work on the history of the song “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” often referred to as the Black National Anthem. Penned by James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson, “Lift Every Voice” was developed against the backdrop of a late 19th-century focus on the “politics of respectability,” and in the context of its authors’ status as “race men.”

‘BATES VOICES: HONORING MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.’

Joao R. Victor, below, a member of the Lewiston High School speech team, offers a dramatic interpretation of W.E.B. Du Bois’ “The Song of the Smoke” in the Commons Fireplace Lounge. Bates faculty, staff, students, and guests honored Martin Luther King’s work by sharing both short original writings addressing his legacy, and excerpted texts that have inspired the readers.

‘#MeToo means Who?’

As attendees overflow the Hedge 106 classroom and spill into the hall, faculty and student presenters (from left, Melinda Plastas, Carolina González Valencia, Paula Espinosa ’19, Leslie Hill, and Emily Kane) wait to learn if they can move to a bigger venue. In the end, everyone marched down Alumni Walk to Pettigrew 301.

While #MeToo has made sexual assault visible as never before, presenters at this dynamic session explored questions about whose stories and which targets are in the spotlight. The panel illuminated the margins and revealed circumstances that create vulnerability for women and LGBTQ persons whose stories might never make the (social) media spotlight.

‘Lifting Every Voice at Bates’

Panelists discuss how their voices at Bates have been silenced and how Bates can allow and truly take in a student’s freedom of speech. This session consisted of a series of questions that interrogate intersecting identities at Bates. Panelists also shared stories, anecdotes, and experiences of how their voices have been silenced and what can be done to make Bates a more welcoming community. The panel was sponsored by Amandla! Black Student Union.

THE REV. DR. BENJAMIN ELIJAH MAYS, CLASS OF 1920, DEBATE

In the popular Mays Debate, student debaters from Bates and Morehouse colleges argued the motion: “This House believes that social justice movements should prioritize socioeconomic class over race and gender.”

Losseni Barry ’22 questions the debaters.

Sankofa

“We wanted to highlight positivity within the black community.”

— Layla Dozier ’21, who, with Tatiyana Garnes ’21 and Joshua Redd ’21, co-produced and directed last night’s annual Sankofa performance in Schaeffer Theatre.

Osceola Heard ’22 performs for "judges" Areohn Harrison ‘20, Sean Vaz ’22, and Justice Prewitt ’20

Adama Diaby ’22 and Robert Winckler ’21.

the rev. dr. martin luther king jr. Read-in

It’s a longstanding MLK Day tradition: Bates students, staff, and community members read books to students at Martel Elementary School in Lewiston, later donating the books to the students’ classrooms.

The sixth-graders heard something more: 94-year-old James Reese, father of Associate Dean of Students for International Student Programs James Reese, phoned in to talk about his experience at the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.