MLK Celebration 2026: Justice Indivisible: Fighting Racism, Greed, and War

It’s cold today. A January cold that goes deep. The kind that makes you think about what’s inside and what’s outside. What we carry and what we face.

Thank you all for being here. And thank you, Nick, for bringing us together to engage in conversation, and to interact with the challenging words from Dr. King’s “The Three Evils of Society” speech.

In Chicago, 1967, King is addressing the National Conference on New Politics.  He looks out to the audience of more than 4,000 gathered and says:

“We were the dreamers of a dream that dark yesterdays of man’s inhumanity to man would soon be transformed into bright tomorrows of justice. Now it is hard to escape the disillusionment and betrayal. Our hopes have been blasted and our dreams have been shattered.”

They’d fought for civil rights. They’d marched. They’d organized. They’d believed. And now they were protesting the Vietnam War. And yet, at that moment, progress felt like it was moving backward.

That day, King spoke in his prophetic voice about the three evils of society – racism, materialism and militarism.

He spoke of a “dream deferred.” And of the despair and disappointment when those supported and elected do not deliver change. Many of us can relate to the feelings that King felt at that time.

Yet, today, we have the advantage of hindsight. We know that King felt that despair when the country was also on the brink of major transformation. We know that even great leaders are complex, and we know the road is long.

Today, as we gather, I feel King’s challenge. I know you do, too.

At Boston University, we have the privilege of carrying the legacy of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King and The Reverend Howard Thurman, who was the first Black dean of Marsh Chapel.

If you will forgive me for saying this — because it is somewhat simplistic — King helps us look outward. At systems. At laws. At presidents and policies. He was in conversation with the leaders of his time.

While Thurman calls on us to look inward and challenge and ask more of ourselves.

I find great strength in these two thinkers. Yes, we can look outward and be dismayed as the country re-litigates what we already know to be true and seeks to erase progress that we have made.

There are truly societal evils, and they must be addressed. You will hear from Dr. Ewing who has written so beautifully about the evil of racism.

Yet, as Thurman would call us to do, I invite us to also ponder: To what extent are these evils in our own hearts and behaviors? Do I practice prejudice, ignore poverty, or miss opportunities to practice peace?

I am not trying to absolve our elected leaders of their responsibilities. But, I do seek to remind us, in the vein of Thurman, that there is still so much that each of us can do.

As Alexander Solzhenitsyn writes in the Gulag Archipelago “the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either—but right through every human heart”.

As a physician, I know all too well the realities we face.

When I was a resident, due to her weakened immune system, I saw the only case of measles in pregnancy I have ever seen. This woman was terribly sick and she lost her pregnancy.

Today, this disease, which was essentially eradicated, is now affecting communities and taking lives.

As a global health practitioner, I know the importance of USAID and the impact of its loss on global public health.

But, I also know that each of us can do more.

For example, Boston University is partnered with Boston Medical Center… and by removing red tape and bureaucracy there is so much more we can do to strengthen our partnership and make meaningful impact on the health of the communities around us.

I know that there is mistrust in science, public health, and higher education. But we cannot just blame others, we must ask where we may be falling short, and how we can make a difference.

It is not naive to focus inward. King and Thurman lived and worked at a time of tremendous upheaval in the world with daily affronts to their dignity. Yes, they challenged others, but they also had the courage to challenge themselves to do more. As King said “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘what are you doing for others?’”

King says, it is hard to escape the “disillusionment and betrayal” and speaks of the shipwreck of the Great Society. But, he could not have seen then the generations that have reaped the benefits of the dream that he gave his life for.

So, we must also be patient. The work for a more just society takes time and is not just about the pendulum swing of the election cycle.

We do not forgo our dreams because at times we wake in fear.

I think of my grandmother who never lost faith in the  future. Her husband died when he was 42 years old.

She went from being the first lady of her church to living on a farm almost as a sharecropper with her five surviving children (she lost prior children to tuberculosis, Polio, and influenza).

My grandmother would not look to leaders for hope or despair. No, each day she fought for a world that she could not see. I lead a life she could not have imagined and did not live to see.

I think of the founders of this university. They lived their values despite the world around them.

In the wake of the Civil War, they imagined a university that would be open to all people regardless of race, gender, religion, or creed. Their conviction paved the way for countless people who otherwise would not have access to education. And they paved the way for King and Thurman.

This university is a place that champions diverse backgrounds, identities, experiences, and perspectives, all essential to learning. We are committed to free speech and listening to ideas and viewpoints with which we disagree. And we are committed to service.

I believe that this openness, and a willingness, even a  compulsion, to act upon our values, are the main reasons that Boston University continues to be a beacon of light that stays consistently strong, guiding us forward, even when underneath a darkening sky.

I believe that, as members of the Boston University community, we are all called, in the spirit of these great BU luminaries, to challenge ourselves.

Let us continue to come together in places like the Howard Thurman Center to learn more about others who are different from us, and to hear genuine, real perspectives that are new to us.

King also said in his 3 Evils Speech that:

“If America does not respond creatively to the  challenge to banish racism, some future historian will

have to say, that a great civilization died because it lacked the soul and commitment to make justice a reality for all men.”

From what I’ve seen, the Boston University community, and the people of Greater Boston do not, in any way shape or form, lack soul. Nor do we lack commitment.

But let us work even harder to find ways to address the social issues of our day.

Next week I will share my vision for Boston University’s future with the BU community and with Greater Boston.

I will talk about the importance of new and novel  partnerships, with people across fields of study, background, location, and political perspectives.

And let us look to our community and remember that we are not alone. Despite the challenges of this moment, I find great hope in my work at Boston University because of the students, faculty, staff, and community members I have the pleasure of interacting with each day.

I am blessed to be a member of this community. On cold, dark days, on those days when we feel like the evils of society are pressing down upon us…

Let us keep our resolve. Look inward. And challenge ourselves, as King challenged himself, time and time again. As he did on that day in Chicago.

And let us remember that Dr. King never lost his dream for justice, and that he also saw light within the darkness.

Thank you, I am so delighted to be joined by Dr. Eve L. Ewing, my former colleague from the University of Chicago, for providing today’s keynote address. Dr Ewing’s most recent book is Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism.

And to Mayor Wu and the City of Boston. We are honored to work closely with you and your team on issues of peace and prosperity, and making our communities safer, healthier, more sustainable, more affordable, more inclusive, and more accessible for everyone.