Over the years, I’ve had several opportunities to attend the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Breakfast at the Minneapolis Convention Center. In other years, I’ve made the trek to Gustavus Adolphus College for their Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Celebration in Christ Chapel. Each consistently features great speakers and gathers large numbers of attendees to consider the lasting impact of Dr. King’s message on our society.
This year I heard both speakers – activist, author, and Harvard student Marley Dias from the convention center on the car radio and national speaker, humorist, diversity expert, and founder of Inversity Solutions, Karith Foster, in the Gustavus chapel filled with college and high school students, all present on a “school’s out” holiday!
The message I heard from Dias was, “Read!” You may know she is an ambassador for the National Education Association’s (NEA) Read Across America and founded #1000BlackGirlBooks, which features books with Black female protagonists. She is also the author of “Marley Dias Gets It Done: And So Can You.”
The word I heard from Foster was C.A.R.E. — Conscious Empathy, Active Listening, Responsible Reaction, Environmental Awareness. But then again, she offered a second acronym — Communication, Acceptance, Respect, and Engagement.
But interestingly, the word I didn’t hear on Martin Luther King Jr. Day at Gustavus was “diversity.”
Noting that diversity is a derivative of the word “division,” Foster created and trademarked the word “inversity,” inspired for her from the word “inclusion.” Without mentioning DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion), she delivered a wonderful MLK Jr. Day message that made me glad for this annual observation of the dream in Martin’s impassioned sermons, and which adds hope for the inclusion of all in our great American experiment on unity!
That’s a very good word for this day, worthy of being followed by this prayer of all gathered in the chapel, including me, and I hope, you as well:
Gracious God, you teach us that all people are beloved. All skin colors are beautiful, and all identities are worthy of respect. Let us see how it is that we are bound together in an inescapable network of mutuality and tied to a single garment of destiny. Call us into your ongoing movement of justice, peace, and love in our communities and in the world. Help us delight in our diversities and transform any despair into hope-filled action. United in this time of learning and reflection, may we find rest and strength, renewal and inspiration. We ask this today as we remember the prophets, activists, visionaries, and reformers of the Civil Rights era. Amen.
Editor’s note: Eden Prairie Local News (EPLN) contributor Pastor Rod Anderson also serves on the EPLN Board of Directors. He was the senior pastor of St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Eden Prairie.
Interested in contributing a faith-based column to EPLN? Email editor@eplocalnews.org.
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