A panel of Northwestern faculty and local community leaders talked about the concept of “Beloved Community,” current events and the importance of preserving Black history to honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. on Tuesday evening.
The panel spoke about how they perceived King’s ideas like “Beloved Community,” in the present and how their work, related to history or archival projects, can inform responses to current events under President Donald Trump’s administration.
The panelists included Laurice Bell, an Emmy-nominated producer and the executive director of the Shorefront Legacy Center, and several history professors. Black studies Department Chair and Prof. Sylvester Johnson moderated the conversation.
The event began with a performance by Soul4Real. NU’s premier Black a capella group sang songs like “Life Every Voice and Sing,” unofficially known as the Black National Anthem, with the audience.
School of Professional Studies master’s student Nekesa Josey, the president of the MPPA Student Leadership Council at SPS, talked about her personal interpretation of King’s “Beloved Community” ideal, which she said is “a responsibility” and not just “a slogan.”
“When we bring the two words together, the meaning expands,” Josey said. “A ‘Beloved Community’ is not defined by sentiment alone. It is not merely something we feel, it is something we live.”
Panelist and history Prof. Leslie Harris said she believes “Beloved Community” as an idea is being challenged.
“There is a lot going on that really is defining ‘community’ quite narrowly,” Harris said. “Community can be suffocating. It can be used as a weapon to move against the very things that Dr. King was trying to envision.”
When it comes to analyzing King’s work, Bell said it was important to consider his words outside of his own historical context.
Bell encouraged the audience to reflect on how King would react to current events as if he were still alive, referring to her experience as a producer and director collaborating with artists whose work, she said, grew from King’s messages.
“He was 39 years old when he was murdered,” Bell said. “He was a young man — and though he accomplished a lot, though he spoke a lot — I wonder what he would be saying today, not just to take what he said as gospel then. But where would he be now?”
Panelist and history Prof. Kate Masur shared how she had worked with the U.S. National Parks Service, which she called “an important venue for telling historical stories,” to ensure new academic research about the Reconstruction period made its way to the public.
She criticized a March 27 executive order titled “RESTORING TRUTH AND SANITY TO AMERICAN HISTORY,” in which Trump alleged that American history has been cast in a way that “fosters a sense of national shame” and made cuts to museums among other actions.
Masur said it was essential to have difficult conversations about American history.
“The most American thing that you can do is to tell the truth about this country’s history,” Masur said, to applause. “I think it’s profoundly American to invest in education, to invest in research, to tell the truth and expect that people will come to grips with it.”
Morris “Dino” Robinson, the production manager at NU Press and founder of Shorefront, talked about his experience preserving histories of Black people in Evanston and the North Shore area.
He said emphasizing giving back to the community is important.
“They own their legacies,” Robinson said. “We come in at Shorefront to a community, not as the expert, but as the student and a curator and a caretaker of their legacy. So building that trust is the most important thing that we focus on. And that’s not a one-time trust.”
Masur said community-oriented work supports American democracy, especially during periods of political strain and division.
While she finds current events challenging, she said looking to history — including King’s life and legacy — may help.
“Democracy has always been a struggle,” Masur said. “This is our moment of being in that struggle. We should never have taken it for granted, and now we see why. This is a time when it’s our turn to stand up and fight for our democracy, however imperfect it may have been in the past.”
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