Martin Luther King Jr. Fellowship Dinner
Remarks by President Richard F. Wilson

January 22, 2006

Good evening and welcome to the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University. We are so pleased and honored that you have joined us for the wonderful occasion of the 16th annual Martin Luther King Fellowship Dinner.

Let me begin by introducing the members of the Head Table, several of whom you will be hearing from shortly. Starting on my right, Mrs. Bettye McSwain and Rev. Rev. Frank McSwain Sr., Pastor of Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church; Rev. James E. Sims Sr. with United Community Gospel Singers; my wife, Pat; Keith Beauchamp, our speaker for this evening; Yvonne Jones a Board Member of the United Community Gospel Singers and someone who has worked closely with Illinois Wesleyan over many years;  Richard Dammers, assistant to the president at Illinois State University; Jesse Smart, CEO of SMART Seeds and former mayor of Bloomington; Susan Smart is Jesse's wife; and Dennie Groh, Illinois Wesleyan’s chaplain and his wife is Connie Groh.

This weekend, yesterday, to be exact, marked a significant, but overlooked anniversary.  50 years ago -- January 21, 1956 in Montgomery, Alabama, six weeks after Rosa Parks heroically decided to keep her seat on a bus, beginning the legendary boycott, the city commission announced that the bus situation was resolved. However, following an emergency meeting of the Montgomery Improvement Association, a young minister, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. announced that the boycott would continue.  And it did – for over a year.  The spark of non-violent, direct action had been ignited. 

As many of you know, Illinois Wesleyan hosted Dr. King on two occasions. In 1961 and again in 1966.  Several of you were probably at those events and I envy you. On his first visit to our campus he spoke about the importance of nonviolence in social action.  “Violence in our struggle would be impractical and immoral . . .  to deal with a moral problem we should use a moral means.”  

We would hear that theme of nonviolent, direct action as a common thread throughout his ministry. When he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, he said, “Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression without resorting to oppression and violence.”

When his son, Martin Luther King III spoke here two years ago, he reminded our audience that his father’s belief in nonviolent, direct action “resonated from a message of love.”

50 years ago in a Montgomery rally at the Holt Street Baptist Church, Dr. King promised, “. . . we are not advocating violence. We have never done that. . .  We are determined . . . to work and fight until justice runs down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.” 

Tonight, we have the privilege of listening to someone who has chronicled both a violent act and non-violent response:  the murder of Emmet Till.  As I watched Keith Beauchamp’s documentary earlier this week, I could not help but feel that the non-violent response from his family and friends was one that stirred this nation and yet, in the short term, did not result in justice.  Now, fifty years later, we find ourselves literally waiting for decision in the next few weeks that will, once again, give credence to Martin Luther King’s belief that justice ultimately would run down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I look forward to greeting you throughout this evening and to sharing in this fellowship with you. Welcome and thank you again for being here.