During the week of honoring Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., three universities in New Orleans hosted a keynote speaker to share how he turned action into activism.
Tulane, Loyola and Xavier University hosted Kwame Rose, a 21-year-old Baltimore native on Wednesday, Jan. 13 in the Tulane Lavin-Bernick center. Rose talked about how he got involved in the death of Freddie Gray, participated in the protests and stood up against major media outlets.
Rose said that he did not start getting involved in protesting until he found out about the death of Freddie Gray, a 25 year-old man who died in police custody.
“The death of Freddie Grey gave me a greater purpose for life and so when I saw. someone killed by the police in my own backyard it forced me to go out into the streets and use my voice to create change,” Rose said.
Amid the Baltimore protest, Rose became known for a video that went viral. The video showed Rose confronting a FOX news reporter regarding their intentions on being in Baltimore.
“I kind of let it be known to mainstream media that they weren’t accepted here, they weren’t welcome and they weren’t there to tell the real story. We were trying to control the narrative that was happening, so we wanted to put them out so we could finally have a safe space,” Rose said.
In his talk, Rose discussed his journey through activism through his education, his music as a hip-hop artist, and his own life experiences. He also explained why everything that is happening today is important and relevant to the work that Dr. King did.
“When we take our own heroes back and we tell the whole story and fight for what they fought for but use the examples for their mistakes then we can become successful,” Rose said, “We can use their leadership and we can truly bring about a better change and bring about the dream into fruition so it’s not just a dream, so we don’t spend three more generations dreaming but we start creating the society in which people can live in.”
Courtney Williams, associate director of student involvement, said that when planning the MLK Week for Peace, he wanted a speaker that would speak to students and relate to them with hopes of inspiring them to make change on their own college campuses.
“I hope everyone left the event being energized and empowered to ‘go forth and set the world on fire’ by living in their purpose and doing something for their fellow person,” Williams said.
Sawyer Joseph, psychology junior, said that she felt the talk went well and felt inspired by Rose to talk more about racial issues.
“These issues can become uncomfortable for some but discomfort causes growth. Growth allows us to develop into better people who have an understanding about the world around us,” Joseph said.
If there was one thing to take away from his talk, Rose believes that he wants young people to be inspired.
“I want to see more education and investment in education. I want to see more programs like this on college campuses where students get to meet other young people who invoke a different type of thought that has never been invoked in their minds before,” Rose said. “Success is not imminent, it’s a process and as long as you put the hard work inside of it then you will reap the benefits of all your hard work.”
