WCC's annual MLK Celebration is inspired by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1960 message, “Our ultimate end must be the creation of the beloved community.” Dr. King envisioned the Beloved Community as a global society based on justice, equal opportunity and love of one's fellow human beings. Racism and all forms of discrimination, prejudice and systemic oppression will be replaced by an all-inclusive spirit of humanity.
The college embraces the spirit of a beloved community through its mission “to make a positive difference in people's lives through accessible and excellent educational programs and services.”
MLK Day Celebration
Thursday, Jan. 11 | 3:30-5 p.m. | Student Center, 2nd floor
All WCC students, faculty, staff and community members are invited to attend WCC's 18th annual MLK Day Celebration. A brief reception will follow the hour-long program, which will include a performance by C3 and the presentation of WCC's annual Equity in Action Awards.
Speakers — including WCC President Dr. Rose B. Bellanca and WCC alumnus and Client Relations Manager Corey Jackson — will address the 2024 MLK theme of economic justice, inspired by Dr. King's quote, "(If) a man doesn't have a job or an income, he has neither life nor liberty nor the possibility for the pursuit of happiness. He merely exists."
A keynote address will be delivered by Dexter Sullivan, the Principal Consultant at Forerunner consulting agency, founder of Dexter Sullivan Enterprises, and a current board chair for three different non-profit organizations. The Detroit native started his first business at 19 and incorporated his first non-profit at 21.
MLK Film Screening
Thursday, Jan. 18 | 3:30-5:30 p.m. | Garrett's (Student Center, 1st floor)
Join the WCC Office of Diversity & Inclusion for a screening of Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin.
During his 60-year career as an activist, organizer and "troublemaker," Bayard Rustin formulated many of the strategies that propelled the American civil rights movement. His passionate belief in Gandhi's philosophy of nonviolence drew Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other leaders to him in the 1940s and 50s; his practice of those beliefs drew the attention of the FBI and police. In 1963, Rustin brought his unique skills to the crowning glory of his civil rights career: his work organizing the March on Washington, the biggest protest America had ever seen. But his open homosexuality forced him to remain in the background, marking him again and again as a "brother outsider." Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin combines rare archival footage — some of it never before broadcast in the U.S. — with provocative interviews to illuminate the life and work of a forgotten prophet of social change. In August 2013, President Barack Obama named Bayard Rustin a posthumous recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Tags: MLK Day