When I think about the legacy of Martin
Luther King
of course everyone remembers the I have
a dream speech it was delivered on the
on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial but
what's more profound I think about his
life and his work is what he talked
about in the later years when much of
what he was saying wasn't very popular
for those in power. That is to say he was
challenging the Vietnam War he was
talking about poverty and of course he
was assassinated 50 years ago you know
when he was there advocating for
workers for sanitation workers who were
striking in Memphis. You know so he was
asking the tough questions about Society
know inequality war and peace. You know
questions that even those who believed
in his nonviolent approach to inclusion
and equity didn't always subscribe to. So
when I think about a place like UCLA and
why many of us
first of all chose to go into academia
and to come to a place like UCLA. I think
it's really about grappling with the
world's most pressing issues and
figuring out ways to bring evidence and
scholarship to bear on those issues so
that we can really pave a path forward
to a world that's that's better than the
world we currently have.
