Jeffrey Johnson wants action.
As the 17th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Week for Peace comes to a close, keynote speaker Jeffrey Johnson, the national director of the Youth, College and Young Adult Division for the NAACP addressed a crowd of college students, local activists and faculty.
The Week for Peace is a joint venture between Loyola, Tulane, Xavier and Dillard universities. Scott Cowen, president of Tulane University, introducted Johnson.
Johnson is responsible for 600 youth councils and college chapters, which represent 60,000 people across the nation.
“I’d be lying to you if I told I came here to make you feel comfortable with the memory of Martin Luther King Jr.,” Johnson said.
The beginning of his speech addressed the misconception held by most people concerning the focus on nonviolence in thinking about King’s legacy. Johnson argued that nonviolence does not mean inaction, and he found the current apathy among college students toward political and social justice activity appalling.
“What [Martin Luther King] would have wanted us to remember is that he stood in the face of adversity when no one else would,” Johnson said.
Johnson attended the University of Toledo where he devoted much of his time to campus activism.
As president of the Black Student Union, he helped create an Africana Studies Department, a university bus service for the black community and formed a minority retention program. He was also the first non-white elected as student government president at the 25,000-student institution.
“I’ve heard him speak before. He always has a positive word and message to empower us to action,” Shannon Young, a Xavier University student and president of the university’s chapter of the NAACP, said.
The Rev. Bernard Knoth, S.J., university president, departed before Johnson began his address; however, the presidents of the other universities did not.
The majority of the speech centered on the need for young people to take action and for all African-Americans and others to understand and celebrate African-American history, though not only for one month every year.
“I felt humbled, like I don’t do enough after hearing what Mr. Johnson had to say,” said Allison Drevich, sociology senior and recipient of the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Award.
The convocation also gave the award to four outstanding students from each of the participating institutions.
Loyola University honored Loyola Law school professor Bill Quigley, though he could not attend the ceremony because he is in Georgia defending the School of the Americas protestors who were arrested in November.
Knoth introduced Drevich when she received her award.
Drevich is the current chairperson of the Loyola University Community Action Program.
She has participated in many social outreach programs, including feeding the homeless and tutoring in low-income areas.
“We are happy to honor her as a voice for the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.,” Knoth said.
The presidents of the remaining three universities introduced students from their own schools. Each recipient received an engraved plaque.
The 17th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Week for Peace, concluded on Jan. 22 with a candlelight vigil and a march at Xavier University.
“If we are going to rise from the ashes, it’s not going to be the ones that are sitting in them,” said Johnson.
Top (Gillian Dicker)
