Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Brandeis Stories

Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

'We must resurrect him within us and become King'

Photography by Gaelen Morse
January 20, 2025

Rev. Dr. Brandon Thomas Crowley urged the Brandeis community to reclaim the true legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

Brandeis students, faculty, staff and others came together in Skyline Commons Friday afternoon to celebrate the life and legacy of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The event was also livestreamed.

The Rev. Dr. Brandon Thomas Crowley, senior pastor of the historic Myrtle Baptist Church in Newton, Massachusetts, and a lecturer at Harvard Divinity School, delivered an impassioned keynote speech, calling for the reclamation of King's true, radical legacy from that of a "sanitized symbol."

One version of King "portrays him as a non-threatening, sanitized, and deluded symbol softened to be palatable and comfortable for white America," Crowley said. But there is another true version of Martin Luther King Jr., as "a radical agitator for justice who challenged and threatened the very foundations of American society," Crowley explained.

"This dual narrative forces us to grapple with the deliberate erasure of King's transformative work. And it compels us to reclaim his legacy in its fullness," he said.

Crowley fervently called on the audience and those listening by livestream to "Resurrect him in our rejection of systems of dominance and sexism and homophobia and xenophobia and transphobia and every 'ism' and phobia that human evilness can create. We must resurrect him within us and become King. Take up his mantle. Overturn tables."

"Be King," Crowley reiterated. "We must resurrect him. By having the courage to speak truth to power, we must resurrect him through our actions for change by organizing and advocating and striving for policies and dismantling oppressive norms. We must resurrect him."

Crowley's urgent call to action was bookended by prayer and songs, including Christina Aguilera's "Fall in Line," which was sung by Martin Luther King Fellow Nora Elbasha '25. MLK Fellow Ría Escamilla-Gil '27 gave a short history of the civil rights icon's legacy at Brandeis. Other community members who offered celebratory or reflective remarks included Brandeis' Christian chaplain Karl LaClair; Desiree Murphy '10, a labor and employment lawyer for CVS Health; Heller doctoral student Rev. Quentin W. Cox, assistant area coordinator, Student Rights and Community Standards; and Taisha White, assistant director of Community Engagement and Leadership.

The event was sponsored by the Department of Student Engagement, the Center for Spiritual Life, the Intercultural Center, Institutional Advancement, the Waltham Group, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Fellowship, the Louis D. Brandeis Legacy Fund for Social Justice, and the Alumni of Color Network.