![\"\"](\"http:\/\/chicagopressrelease.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/dr-martin-luther-king-jr-219x300.jpg\" "\\"dr-martin-luther-king-jr\\"")
Maya Angelou\u2019s timeless poem, \u201cStill I Rise,\u201d is the inspiration for the theme of this year\u2019s Martin Luther King Commemoration service at the University of Chicago, the apex of the University\u2019s annual celebration of the life and legacy of King.<\/p>\n
The event will take place at Rockefeller Chapel at 3:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 15<\/strong>, and will feature a keynote address by Melissa Harris-Lacewell of Princeton University. The event is open to the public.<\/p>\n According to Ana Vazquez, Deputy Dean of Students in the University and Director of the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs, this year\u2019s commemoration differs slightly from those in past years. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cStudents, both undergraduate and graduate, were very engaged in the planning of the MLK Commemoration Service this year,\u201d Vazquez said.<\/p>\n Students were involved in every aspect, including choosing a theme, which had a new twist this year.<\/p>\n \u201cFor example, this is the first time we\u2019ve had a theme that did not come directly from a quote from Dr. King,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Instead, the theme came from Angelou\u2019s poem:<\/strong><\/p>\n You may shoot me with your words, Angelou\u2019s work speaks to the ongoing issues of violence that young people around the nation face, even as progress is made toward King\u2019s vision. Vazquez said students \u201cwanted a speaker who could address the issues of youth and violence that are devastating so many communities as well as someone who could link this important issue to King\u2019s non-violent approach in fighting for civil rights.\u201d<\/p>\n The students chose Harris-Lacewell, an Associate Professor of Politics and African American Studies at Princeton University, author of the award-winning book Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought<\/em>, a frequent guest on national television shows and a past Political Science faculty member at UChicago.<\/p>\n \u201cMelissa Harris-Lacewell was selected by the committee because she has well-established connections to the University of Chicago, is a well-known national scholar, and would be an engaging and provocative speaker,\u201d said Vazquez.<\/p>\n Immediately following the service at Rockefeller, the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs will host its annual MLK Reception at Ida Noyes Hall, featuring the musical group Soul Umoja, spoken-word artists as well as student performances.<\/p>\n Vazquez said the University\u2019s MLK celebration also will kick off events for Black Heritage Month that will take place in January and February.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re hoping that this commemoration will launch a great month of interesting events for the entire campus,\u201d Vazquez said.<\/p>\n Maya Angelou\u2019s timeless poem, \u201cStill I Rise,\u201d is the inspiration for the theme of this year\u2019s Martin Luther King Commemoration service at the University of Chicago, the apex of the University\u2019s annual celebration of the life and legacy of King. The event will take place at Rockefeller Chapel at 3:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 15, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-183812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183812\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\nYou may cut me with your eyes,
\nYou may kill me with your hatefulness,
\nBut still, like air, I’ll rise.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/img><\/a>
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