Enlightens Fairfield Campus on the Power of Pushing Towards Racial Equality

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Karsonya Wise Whitehead, Ph.D. revealed the power of “moving forward while looking backward” as she honored Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Quick Center for the Arts on Feb. 9, 2023, as part of Fairfield's Annual MLK Convocation.

Much of Whitehead’s work looks at race, gender and class unity in America, and surrounds the idea of moving toward improvement while looking back at our origins and ancestry. Throughout her lecture, she urged her audience to simply do more in the name of social justice.

“We are supposed to move forward, but pull those who are behind us, and reach towards those who are in front of us,” she declared.

Whitehead is an Associate Professor of Communication and African and African American Studies at Loyola University Maryland, the host of the award-winning radio show “Today With Dr. K,” and the recipient of the Vernon Jarrett Medal for Journalistic Excellence. She is also the founding director of The Karson Institute for Race, Peace & Social Justice, an organization dedicated to sharing the narratives of the racially oppressed.

In her point of acknowledging one’s beginning before moving towards one’s end, she further relayed a quote from her father–a token of authentic support and hope throughout her life. He said that when you stand before people, you are standing on the shoulders of those who are trailblazers and have dug the path before you.

For Whitehead, those trailblazers are people like Harriet Tubman and Mary Church Terrell, which she announced with great pride and a moving aspiration. Whitehead began her talk with a prominent recognition of Dr. King. While she highlighted the significance of his efforts, she also explained the vitality of their relevance today. Whitehead scolds society for quoting Dr. King when it is popular or convenient for them, without properly studying and appreciating his work. In order to achieve this change demanded of us, his work must not only be studied but replicated as well.

“That’s the Dr. King that I lean into, not just the Dr. King of ‘I have a dream,’ but the Dr. King who said ‘we have to tear down the system if we want to move forward.’”

Fairfield University’s Annual Convocation is part of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration. The theme of this year’s celebration was “Social Justice Now,” invoking Dr. King’s concept of acting “now.”

Whitehead was awarded the Lafarge Award, which “recognizes an individual who establishes coalitions to advance positive change, initiates difficult dialogues, and embodies activism in support of the long, blessed freedom struggle,”

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