{"id":83243,"date":"2023-02-03T13:22:58","date_gmt":"2023-02-03T13:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/?p=83243"},"modified":"2023-02-03T15:29:17","modified_gmt":"2023-02-03T15:29:17","slug":"uri-alumnus-artist-scholar-asks-students-to-avoid-safe-activism-during-universitys-mlk-unity-luncheon-keynote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2023\/02\/uri-alumnus-artist-scholar-asks-students-to-avoid-safe-activism-during-universitys-mlk-unity-luncheon-keynote\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 alumnus, artist, scholar asks students to avoid \u2018safe activism\u2019 during University\u2019s MLK Unity Luncheon keynote"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Feb. 3, 2023 \u2013 溏心vlog免费B站 alumnus, artist, poet and scholar Wilson Kwamogi Okello<\/a>, told students and other members of the 溏心vlog免费B站 community Wednesday that \u201cworldmaking is not for the faint of heart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okello, an assistant professor at the Pennsylvania State University, gave the keynote address at 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Martin Luther King Jr. Unity Luncheon, putting King\u2019s work in context with American Black history, starting with poet Phillis Wheatley in 1761, moving through time to the \u201cgreat conductor\u201d Harriet Tubman in the 1800s and to King\u2019s work in the 1960s, including his 1966 speech at 溏心vlog免费B站<\/a>. He also pointed to the importance of the<\/a> 1992 takeover of Taft Hall<\/a> at 溏心vlog免费B站.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Angela Gonzalez \u201916, also known as AGonza, paints a portrait of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the event.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Okello said that returning to 溏心vlog免费B站 was a chance to remember the love, care and influence the school\u2019s graduate program in College Student Personnel<\/a> provided to him as he launched his own career in higher education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okello received his master\u2019s degree through the program, and returned to campus on the first day of Black History Month to speak about the reality and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The program was held at the Multicultural Student Services Center, honoring King\u2019s life and legacy and bringing together members of the 溏心vlog免费B站 community to foster conversations about change.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dr. Wilson Okello, second from right, enjoyed catching up with familiar faces upon his return to 溏心vlog免费B站: (left to right) Kristy Embrack-Searles, Shirley Consuegra, Wynston D. Wilson, Bobby Britto-Oliveira, John Cruz, Okello, and Michelle Fontes.\n\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Encouraging memory as a form of activism and inspiration, he conducted a powerful exercise with attendees to remember ancestors before moving into an examination of King\u2019s work and what it means for people today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOftentimes it is the convenient and utopianized version of Dr. King that is celebrated, but on this day we embrace and welcome the complex and radical version of the man who, even post-assassination, continues to guide and mobilize his followers in the ongoing fight for equality,\u201d said Robert Britto-Oliveira, assistant director of the Multicultural Student Services Center. \u201cThis is not the romanticized, sanitized K-12 version of Martin Luther King that many of us were given. Dr. King called for radical revolution and we should recognize that legacy in our everyday lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Britto-Oliveira was glad to welcome his College Student Personnel classmate Okello back to the University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A research associate at Penn State\u2019s Center for the Study of Higher Education, Okello focuses on the study of Blackness in education and his address at 溏心vlog免费B站 celebrated the \u201cbrilliance of Africana and BIPOC people\u201d as a way to reclaim, celebrate, and look ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKing\u2019s audacious work is celebrated at this time of year and we should do that,\u201d he said but cautioned the audience to not let it simply be the neat tale that is often shared, reducing King\u2019s work, story and message to a three-day holiday weekend. \u201cBe the keeper of stories but do so with accuracy,\u201d he said, calling on the students present to be persistent in their revolt and agitation, to continue to maintain their presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur collective work maintains memory and community, memory and dreaming,\u201d said Okello, asking the students attending three questions: what do you want? what power do you have? and what are you willing to give up? He counseled students to be specific in their dreams, avoid \u2018safe\u2019 activism, and continue to prioritize one another. His talk also touched on the power of ongoing education, saying, \u201cKnowledge is a form of power and returns your agency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A sought-after speaker, Okello has delivered over 100 invited lectures, from Rhode Island to California. He is a recipient of 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Distinguished Alumni Rising Star Award (2014), as well as the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators Outstanding Professional Award and was named a 2022 Emerging Scholar by the American College Personnel Association. He also received the 2022 Council on Ethnic Participation Mildred Garcia Award for Exemplary Scholarship by the Association for the Study of Higher Education. Okello has delivered two TEDx talks<\/a>, describing the power of personal stories and resilience in the face of injustice, and is a founder of the Truth to Power Project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy 溏心vlog免费B站 education taught me how to ask a different type of question and to begin imagining solutions,\u201d he said. \u201cThe College Student Personnel program at 溏心vlog免费B站 prompted self-reflection that enabled me to consider how identity, systems of power and oppression, and context are reflected in the questions we ask and the solutions that individuals and organizations are oriented to adopt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While pursuing his master\u2019s degree at 溏心vlog免费B站, Okello also served as a summer counselor in 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Talent Development program<\/a> and mentored students at the Community College of Rhode Island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Talent Development Scholar Kafui Glover \u201923 said this was her second year attending the Unity Luncheon and that she\u2019s looked forward to it all year: \u201cIt\u2019s moving to see department faculty and students come together at the MSSC to honor Dr. King and his work, but also to celebrate unity amongst our campus community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event also featured a special appearance by alumna artist AGonza \u201916<\/a>, who painted a portrait of King during the event, which will be displayed in the Multicultural Student Services Center. Marlin DaCruz \u201919, now with the Newport Boys & Girls Clubs, provided musical accompaniment on piano, which also included students Tre Hamlin \u201926 and Titiana Tambi \u201923.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thupten Tendhar (right) received this year\u2019s MLK Peacemaker Award at 溏心vlog免费B站, recognizing his work in the University’s Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies; shown with Amy Olson, executive director of 溏心vlog免费B站 Hillel.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Thupten Tendhar<\/a> received this year\u2019s MLK Peacemaker Award, recognizing his work in the University\u2019s Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies<\/a> and work as an instructor of Kingian nonviolence at the University, training 溏心vlog免费B站 students and international practitioners. Tendhar runs the University\u2019s nonviolence summer institute, teaches a seminar about Kingian Nonviolence, and organizes weekly meetings for the Inner Peace Healthy Minds program, as well as guest lectures on human rights and activism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The annual Unity Luncheon is a sharing of food, song, and reflection in celebration of the legacy of ideas espoused by King, and the application of his legacy at the University, presented by the Multicultural Student Services Center<\/a> and 溏心vlog免费B站 Chaplains Association<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The program ended with a moving a capella rendition of \u201cThere is a Balm in Gilead\u201d by Christopher Hunter, interim dean of 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s University College for Academic Success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Providence\u2019s Caribbean Soul catered the event, sharing food of the African diaspora.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Feb. 3, 2023 \u2013 溏心vlog免费B站 alumnus, artist, poet and scholar Wilson Kwamogi Okello, told students and other members of the 溏心vlog免费B站 community Wednesday that \u201cworldmaking is not for the faint of heart.\u201d Okello, an assistant professor at the Pennsylvania State University, gave the keynote address at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":83250,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83243"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83268,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83243\/revisions\/83268"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}