A TRADITION OF KINGS ON CAMPUS

“I was so proud of the speech my dad had given. I knew it was special – a watershed moment in American history. Never before had I heard a leader articulate what he did.” The “dad” to whom the speaker was referring was civil rights icon Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The speech? The iconic “I Have A Dream” address at the 1963 March on Washington. The son who was so inspired by those stirring words? Martin Luther King III, who was the featured speaker at the annual Siena lecture series event that bears his parents’ names. “That speech was an indelible part of my upbringing and it sustains me still,” said the man who is now a global humanitarian in his own right. King spoke May 3 at the UHY Center on “Strengthening the Bonds of Racial Justice,” which echoed Siena’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. He was also awarded an honorary doctor of humane letters. It was the College’s 35th annual Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King Lecture. King was 10 when his father was assassinated in 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. His family, led by their late mother Coretta Scott King, has carried on the work of making lasting change for social justice in the United States and throughout the world. With the civil rights movement in America far from over, King asked the audience to “serve humanity as a force for peace and justice.” Latasha Deidrick ’23 introduced King at the start of his talk. “This past year, our nation has confronted social injustice, violence and confusion around the global pandemic,” she said. “In fact, perhaps at no other time in our recent history has our world needed the clear thinking and solutions-oriented voice of Martin Luther King the Third.” King was the third member of his iconic family to speak at Siena: his mother addressed the Siena community in 1986 when she was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree. His sister, the Rev. Bernice King, spoke in 2002.