King dedicated his life to improving the educational access and opportunity given to every person, and at the University of Utah we continue to strive toward those values. Martin Luther King, Jr. Week (MLK Week) has become a platform for engaging students, faculty, trainees, staff, and community members in critical conversations around race and contemporary civil rights issues in America. All are welcome to get involved and participate!

MLK Week 2023 is planned in partnership with various organizations across the University of Utah and sponsored by Domo.

Choose Love Over Hate—January 14 - 20, 2023

In the spring of 1963, as Dr. Martin Luther King was preparing to help lead organized protests in Birmingham, he was simultaneously finishing his work on “The Strength to Love,” his first collection of published sermons to appear with Beacon Press. Dr. King’s notion of love wasn’t the amorous western ideal; King’s love required strength—even defiance in the pursuit of justice and equity. King understood his notion of love would seem contradictory to many readers—especially those seeing images of peaceful protesters in Alabama attacked by police dogs and battered by water cannons. But he insisted “darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

MLK Day of Service

January 14th @ 9:00 am to 12:30 pm - Multiple locations

This is the kickoff event to the U of U's MLK Week! Volunteer in support of local community organizations to honor Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King's dedication and commitment to justice, service, and equity. Learn more...

Rally & March

January 16 @ 2:30pm to 4:00 pm - East High School

With Dr. King’s footsteps forging the pathway towards equity, we march to commemorate his legacy and the work of many activists during the Civil Rights movement. Join us for a rally and march (from East High to Kingsbury Hall) celebrating the legacy of MLK!

Signs for the march and shuttle rides back to East High School will be provided.

Agenda

• Rally at East High School: 2:30 – 3 p.m. MT
  • Pamela Bishop; Senior Director of Marketing & Communications; Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
  • “Lift Every Voice and Sing”
  • Rev. Oscar Moses, Calvary Baptist Church & Interfaith Council
  • Mary Ann Villarreal; Vice President for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
  • Frances Battle, MLK Week Committee Member
  • Nubia Peña; Senior Advisor Equity & Opportunity, Office of Governor Spencer J. Cox
  • Performance: Resistance Revival Chorus
  • Efren Corado Garcia; Diversity & Inclusion Officer, Salt Lake County Mayor’s Office
  • Taylor VanderToolen; Student Body President, Associated Students of the University of Utah
• March to Kingsbury Hall: 3 – 4 p.m. MT
  • Hot chocolate and sweet treats will be served at Kingsbury Hall

Learn more...

Art & Activism: Resistance Revival Chorus

January 17 @ 9:00 am to 10:00 am - S.J. Quinney College of Law

Join members of the Resistance Revival Chorus to talk about the role of arts in activism, both from a historical perspective and the ways in which current activists are employing art in their causes. The Chorus is made up of womxn and non-binary singers, representing a multitude of identities, professions, creative backgrounds, and activist causes, who join together to breathe joy and song into the resistance. The RRC uses art and music to call for justice and equity for womxn across racial, ethnic, economic, sexual identity and religious lines. This will be a panel discussion with several members of the chorus – audience questions and participation is encouraged! Learn more...

Choosing Love Over Hate: A Conversation with Reverend France A. Davis

January 17 @ 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm - Gould Auditorium

Whether it was growing up in segregated Georgia, working with leaders across the country during the Civil Rights Movement, leading a congregation at Calvary Baptist Church, or teaching an ethnic studies class at the U, Reverend France A. Davis has lived the theme of “choosing love over hate.” Join us for an in-person Q&A discussion with Reverend Davis to learn about his experiences and discuss “choosing love” in navigating today’s challenges. Learn more...

Resistance Revival Chorus

January 17 @ 7:00 pm - Kingsbury Hall

Join us for an evening sure to breathe joy and hope as the Resistance Revival Chorus takes the stage in an uplifting performance. Born out of the 2017 Women’s March, the Resistance Revival Chorus is a collective of more than sixty women and non-binary singers whose mission puts women’s voices at the center. The Resistance Revival Chorus has been honored to perform with Kesha at the 2018 Grammys and on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, along with many other artists. Learn more...

Reframing the Conversation: Stronger Than Hate

January 18 @ 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm - Livestream or Hinckley Caucus Room (GC 2018)

Aligning with the MLK Week theme, “Choose Love Over Hate”, in the January installment of the Reframing the Conversation series, panelists will discuss the challenges of countering hate and examining how communities can move collectively away from it. They’ll also examine hatred in its various forms and discuss how the smaller seeds of hate can be recognized and stopped before they transform into larger and more dangerous problems. Learn more...

Film Screening & Discussion: “Till”

January 18 @ 4:00 pm to 6:30 pm - The Post Theater

“Till” is a profoundly emotional and cinematic film about the true story of Mamie Till-Mobley’s relentless pursuit of justice for her 14-year-old son; Emmett Till; who; in 1955; was lynched while visiting his cousins in Mississippi. In Mamie’s poignant journey of grief turned to action; we see the universal power of a mother’s ability to change the world.

Chinonye Chukwu directs from a screenplay co-written with Michael Reilly & Keith Beauchamp. Danielle Deadwyler; Jalyn Hall; Frankie Faison; Haley Bennett and Whoopi Goldberg star. Learn more...

#LivingWhileBlack

January 19 @ 8:00 am to 9:00 am - S.J. Quinney College of Law or Virtual

The hashtag #LivingWhileBlack first appeared as a social media hashtag to mobilize attention to incidents where white people called the police on Black people for engaging in non-criminal, everyday activities.  The explosive combination of high-quality cell phone video and ubiquitous social media platforms revealed to the public several incidents where the police were called to report Black people in spaces that the callers believed they ought not be. In each of these cases, the Black men, women, and children were occupying spaces in which they had rights to be and undertaking activities they had a right to undertake.  The ability of social media to make these incidents go viral has not revealed a new phenomenon.  Rather, it has simply highlighted the modern incarnation of a much older one phenomenon: Attempts to use the basis of nuisance and trespass from property law as a way to exclude Black Americans from what the callers believe to be “white” spaces.

Professor Jefferson-Jones examines both the historical and modern incarnations of this “Blackness as Nuisance” doctrine, and how this attempt to distort property law norms arises from a sense of racial entitlement and discomfort with racial integration. Professor Jefferson-Jones will discuss her research which highlighted language that either explicitly called for exclusion of the victim based on his or her race or that employed racially coded language (“dog whistles”) to call for police force to be used to remove Black people from shared spaces.

Finally, she will discuss why policymakers need to consider the intersections of property law and criminal law, and the historical origins of these types of incidents, in order to craft effective responses. Learn more...

MLK Week Keynote: Melissa Wood Bartholomew

January 19 @ 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm - Union Saltair Room

This year’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Week (MLK Week) planning committee is pleased to announce its keynote speaker for 2023: Melissa Wood Bartholomew. Bartholomew is the Associate Dean for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging at Harvard Divinity School (HDS) where she also teaches. She is a scholar who is earnestly committed to eradicating racism and oppression and advancing healing and societal transformation through spiritually-engaged, heart-centered multifaith and multidisciplinary strategies rooted in love. Learn more...

Expressing Love Through Food

January 20 @ 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm - Sorensen Molecular Biotechnology Building, Room 3250

The roots of the modern food justice movement are in the civil rights era: it was in 1969 that the Black Panther Party started a free breakfast program for school children in Oakland, CA. Today, grassroots food justice movements take shape around regenerative agriculture, supporting local farmers and businesses, increasing food accessibility, and above all using mutual aid networks to reduce hunger.

Friday’s lunch and learn, “Expressing Love Through Food,” will feature speakers who are striving for food justice in the valley and a lunch catered by Urban Pioneer Café. Join us to learn about our local food justice movements

Registration is required. Learn more...

MLK Jubilee

January 20 @ 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm - Black Cultural Center

End Martin Luther King, Jr. Week on a high note and celebrate the legacy of students who fought for equality during the Civil Rights Movement. While working on their studies, these students worked through organizations such as The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and founded Black student unions and identity-based student organizations.

The MLK Jubilee will have food, music, games, and opportunities to make connections in our community. Learn more...