In an address moderated Mayor Levar Stoney, Martin Luther King III — a community activist and son of the prominent leader of the Civil Rights Movement in the 60s — urged students and community members to embrace nonviolence and positivity.
King reiterated his father’s message of nonviolence — especially when it comes to guns — before a crowd of more than 500 students, faculty and community members.
“I am the recipient of gun violence,” King said. “But it did not deter me or distract me because I had to learn to dislike the evil act, but still love the individual.”
King addressed the audience with a heavy heart as he recalled Wednesday’s school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Advocating for gun safety rather than control, King condemned civilian use of assault weapons.
“In this society, we are obsessed and infatuated with guns. We have certainly created and sustained a culture of violence,” he said. “Until we begin to change the culture, we’re not going to be able to address these issues.”
King said positivity and nonviolence are key and youth hold power in today’s society.
“I certainly am so proud of those young people who are rising up, saying ‘enough is enough, and we’re not going to take it anymore,’” he said.
King was the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, founder of Bounce TV and Realizing the Dream, Inc. and is on the board of directors for the Atlanta-based King Center, Drum Major Institute and the Metropolitan West Management Asset Corporation. His work in the nonprofit sector focuses on battling the “triple evils” of racism, poverty, and militarism, as laid out by his father.
“The ideas of freedom, justice and nonviolence that my father championed during the movement have a special resonance in the wake of violence and hatred,” King said. “One of the most important things about the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech that I want everyone to understand is that he did not intend for it to be just a dream. Instead he intended that it be taken seriously as a realistic vision by all Americans of good will.”
King said he blames media corporations for spotlighting events like the Charlottesville neo-Nazi rally and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
“We are a better society — a better nation — than the behavior that we are exhibiting,” he said. “It’s about money unfortunately. Ratings is how [the media] make money. That, we must change.”
King met with students and community leaders along with his wife Arndrea Waters and daughter Yolanda at the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs before his keynote address. Topics ranged from consumerism and activism to the current presidency.
VCU President Michael Rao praised King’s strength as a leader.
“His focus is really about the future,” Rao said. “He has a very perfect memory with respect to history, he has a very clear sense of a lot of the issues that we face today [and] he also has a really clear sense about where we need to go as people in the future.”
King’s keynote address received a standing ovation. His closing words echoed those of his late father.
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in times of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy,” King said.
Nia Tariq, Contributing Writer
Saffeya Ahmed, Contributing Writer