Education
WATCH: Viterbo caps off full day honoring MLK holiday with keynote speaker, head of Martin Luther King research institute at Stanford
A full day honoring Martin Luther King Jr., at Viterbo University was capped off Monday with keynote speaker Lerone Martin, director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research & Education Institute at Stanford University.
The evening ceremony at the Viterbo Fine Arts Center followed a full day of activity by Viterbo faculty, staff and about 200 students, who took part in volunteer projects with nonprofit organizations in La Crosse to mark the federal holiday in King’s honor.
Martin told the audience that to fight evils in society, they must “keep moving.”
Martin said racism, poverty, and war were evils that Dr. King fought against during his lifetime, and he argued that many in the U.S. don’t want to deal with King’s message.
Martin said King worked on the habit of not being violent and argued that practicing non-violence is not the same as being passive.
He highlighted King’s opposition to the Vietnam War as fighting something immoral and sinful.
Martin added that part of King’s strategy was negotiation is talking to people you disagree with.