Civil rights activist Shaun King is known for his ability to peer into history and pull on the threads of systematic oppression to reveal how racism continues to operate in the 21st century.
Although it may be considered by many a problem of the past, King points out more black Americans “are in prison and under the jurisdiction of police than were ever slaves even at the peak of slavery.” He also notes there were the same number of lynchings in 1902 as men, women, and children killed by police in 2015.
As senior justice writer for the New York Daily News and a regular political commentator on the Tom Joyner Morning Show, King has emerged as a leading advocate for civil rights.
He also is this year’s keynote speaker for WSU’s 31st annual Martin Luther King Jr. Community Celebration. The public is invited to the free keynote address, scheduled for 7 p.m. Jan. 18 in the Compton Union Building’s Senior Ballroom on the Pullman campus. It also will be livestreamed.
“In a time when civil rights are under grave attack from a number of sources, and a significant amount of students are directly affected by these efforts, it is my hope that Shaun can not only inform those who are unfamiliar with the crisis, but also inspire allies, activists, and the WSU community at large to be part of the solution,” said Maria de Jesus Dixon, chair of the MLK Program.
WSU is hosting several events leading up to the annual community celebration, including a public square panel discussion on Jan. 16 titled “A New Era of Social Activism” and a Foley Institute Coffee & Politics Series presentation by King at 3 p.m. Jan. 18. Organizers describe it as an effort to gather and unite individuals to dream about movement building, activism and what that means for the 21st century. More information can be found at mlk.wsu.edu.
In the wake of violence in New York, Baltimore, Cleveland, Ferguson, Missouri, Charleston, South Carolina, and other cities, King has become one of the many influential voices behind the Black Lives Matter movement and the NFL boycott. He uses his direct prose style and social media platform to provide action-orientated solutions regarding social justice issues, specifically support for the water protectors at Standing Rock and elsewhere, police brutality, discrimination, and the prison-industrial complex.
In the summer of 2017 King continued to speak out against racial injustice by calling for a nationwide NFL boycott as he and fellow activists began to speculate quarterback Colin Kaepernick was being blackballed for his stance against police brutality in America. “I can’t, in good conscience, support this league,” King said. “It’s disgusting and has absolutely nothing to do with football and everything to do with penalizing a brilliant young man for the principled stance he took last season.” The boycott has become a national controversy, and today Kaepernick remains jobless as teams in an injury-prone league continue to depend on second- and third-string quarterbacks to patch up the holes in their rosters.
King is continually recognized as one of today’s most vocal advocates. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Epoch Humanitarian Award and the Hometown Hero Award from the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Included in MSNBC’s The Grio Top 100 History Makers, King draws on the oratorical skills developed, in part, from the 15 years he spent as a pastor.
Contact:
Maria de Jesus Dixon
Office of Equity and Diversity
509-338-9209
mdj.dixon@wsu.edu
