By Dorothy Brown '09
Assistant News Editor
Last Tuesday, Wellesley College students, faculty and staff welcomed to campus famed actor, social activist and musician Harry Belafonte, this year's Martin Luther King Jr. lecturer. Each year, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Committee, a group made up of the Student Organizations and Appointments Committee (SOAC) appoints student representatives. Along with the director of Harambee House and Wellesley faculty members, they meet to select and bring to campus a speaker who shares the committee's desire to honor the goals and legacy of King. This year's committee members were Professor Judith Rollins (Chair), Dean Angela Carpenter, Professor Elena Creef, Victoria Allison '10, Racquel Armstrong '10 and Ratha Ly '09. Meeting throughout the year to coordinate the committee's annual lecture, the students and faculty members worked intensively to maintain the legacy of the MLK Jr. Committee. In the past, the committee has brought to campus such esteemed speakers as former chairperson of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Julian Bond and social activist and scholar Angela Davis.
Tuesday's lecture proved to be just as popular and moving as past MLK Jr. Committee events. "Harry Belafonte presented himself as a beacon in his lecture. I liked the way he bridged the gap between the old and young," Allison Bland '09 said. Titled "Social Justice: Within and Beyond Our Borders," Belafonte's lecture focused on issues of social justice within the United States and beyond. Leading the audience from his childhood in Harlem, New York and Jamaica to his music and acting career in Hollywood, Belafonte described his own interactions with and involvement in social justice movements throughout the world. An especially poignant moment in his lecture came when Belafonte described his first interaction with Dr. Martin Luther King. He described this meeting as a fascinating collision of minds, sharing with the audience the excitement and vigor he felt in adopting King's cause, social equality for all.
While Belafonte focused greatly on his involvement in historically significant events and social movements(from the March on Selma, to the establishment of the state of Israel), he reminded audience members of the constant presence of social inequity in the world. Belafonte stressed the importance of communication between members of different communities, asserting that dialogue, in many ways, leads to better understanding and the movement toward social equality. Belafonte demonstrated the power of dialogue in communities in conflict by sharing with audience members his own project, The Gathering. Belafonte described "The Gathering" as an organization through which he hosts retreats and meetings aimed at increasing dialogue between groups of people in communities dealing with social inequality.
Allison '10, Ethos' student representative to the MLK Jr. Committee, found Belafonte's commitment to social equality to be especially inspiring. "What resonated with me most, in conversations with Mr. Belafonte prior to his lecture, were his comments on the achievement gap between blacks and whites in education.
He said something that really struck a chord with me. He said the children have not failed the system, the system has failed the children," Allison said.
Like Allison, many of the lecture attendees left Tishman Commons on Tuesday with a stronger commitment to achieving social equality in their communities. With encouragement from Belafonte to use the privileges and resources available to them for the betterment of society as a whole, Wellesley community members left another MLK Jr. Committee annual lecture further imbued with the sense of responsibility reflected in the college's motto, non ministrari sed ministrare, not to be ministered unto, but to minister.