Fairfield University hosts this special in-person event. Registration is required and free. 

Social Justice Now

In his “I Have a Dream” speech given at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. issued a clarion call to heed “the fierce urgency of now.”

Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy.
Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.
Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.
Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

Sixty Years Later

The theme of Fairfield University’s Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration – “Social Justice Now” – invokes this idea of the “now” and invites us to consider what it means in 2023. In light of our current challenges – from climate change to the persistence of white supremacy, the suppression of voting rights, and ongoing struggles against racial inequities - Dr. King’s warned against taking “the tranquilizing drug of gradualism” and urged us to choose action against complacency and pessimism. In his last book Where Do We Go from Here?, Dr. King reminded us that “our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change.”

Convocation Speaker

Karsonya “Kaye” Wise Whitehead is the founding director of The Karson Institute for Race, Peace & Social Justice and an associate professor of communication and African and African American Studies at Loyola University Maryland. She is the host of the award-winning radio show Today with Dr. Kaye on WEAA, 88.9 FM, and the recent recipient of the Vernon Jarrett Medal for Journalistic Excellence for her outstanding reporting on the impact racial reckoning has had in helping to close social/racial wealth gap for Black people in America. Her scholarship examines the ways race, class, and gender coalesce in American classrooms and political and social environments. Her work and her scholarship in activism, race, and African American history, and her work in journalism have garnered national attention and awards.

Learn more about the Fairfield University 2023 Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration: https://www.fairfield.edu/mlk/