Supporting King's work: Get out and vote

Eastern Michigan University’s 2018, MLK keynote, MSNBC cable host Joy-Ann Reid, urges involvement in all campaigns as a means of furthering Martin Luther King, Jr.’s vision of a truly great America

Supporting King's work: Get out and vote

YPSILANTI – Vote. Get out and vote. And don’t pay attention only to presidential elections or party labels.

“Register to vote, and register everyone you know to vote,” said Joy-Ann Reid, speaking to an audience of nearly 500 people during her keynote address in the Student Center Monday, Jan.15 at the Martin Luther King. Jr. day celebration at Eastern Michigan University.

Reid a political analyst for MSNBC and host of “AM Joy,” offered that pointed answer in response to the question: “What can we as students and staff at EMU do to best support the work of Dr. King?”

Voting is “the first civil right, the right out of which all other rights flow,” Reid said, while noting it’s crucial to vote in all elections, because your individual rights are most determined at the state level. She said that blacks tend to mainly vote in presidential campaigns, because historically they’ve often trusted that office while states have continually passed laws that eroded civil rights.

Reid, serving as keynote for EMU’s 32nd annual MLK celebration, offered a wide-ranging description of King’s life and work and what it means for us now. She sought to make full use of his memory in echoing the theme for EMU’s 2018 MLK celebration: “Live the Legacy: Look Back, Be Present, Move Forward.”

Joy-Ann Reid with student emcees
MSNBC's Joy-Ann Reid, center, with EMU students Sanyu Lukwago and Quentin Francis, who served as the 2018 MLK Masters of Ceremony. A gallery of images from the luncheon and keynote is posted online. 

Reid noted that the MLK holiday is not just for black people and that King stood for far more than combatting racism – he fought for economic opportunity for all people.

In a nod to the present, Reid acknowledged a certain disconnect in hearing President Donald Trump offer a tribute to King the same week he’d belittled countries such as Haiti in discussions of immigration with Washington lawmakers.

“We’ve living in truly unprecedented times,” Reid said. “Dr. King’s commitment to changing this country has never been more relevant. His legacy is all of America’s legacy … to make American great – not great again, but great at all.”

Reid sketched a broad portrait of King, an emotional, precocious child who skipped grades and became a fearless yet sometimes tormented man who, at age 39 – seven years younger than the Hip Hop artist and promotor Jay Z – fully and correctly expected to die soon at someone else’s hands.

Noting King’s emphasis on economic equality, Reid pointed to his “Poor Peoples’ Campaign” which first focused on the treatment of black sanitation workers in Memphis, Tenn.

About 1,300 black workers walked off the job during a 64-day strike that spurred King to visit Memphis several times. His widow, Coretta Scott King, later led a march of some 42,000 people in Memphis and the union ultimately received justice in the form of better wages and conditions.

Reid traced the extensive efforts to make King’s birthday a holiday, noting the help from Stevie Wonder and efforts to stop it from North Carolina senator Jesse Helms. The measure was finally passed in 1983, during the Reagan administration, and the holiday was first observed in 1986.

In concluding, Reid offered a mixed portrait of where we stand in bringing King’s vision alive. Sadly, schools are just a segregated as they were in the 1950s, Reid said, citing Ypsilanti as a prime example, while adding that only 2 percent of the white parents in Selma, Ala., send their children to public schools.

Yet signs of hope exist, Reid said, noting that thus far it had been “a pretty dark speech for a person named Joy.”

More blacks are running for political office, efforts are increasing to fight gerrymandering, and all 50 states now celebrate the MLK holiday, Reid said.

If Martin Luther King, Jr. were alive today, he’d be seven years younger than actress Betty White, Reid whimsically noted, adding that he’d have plenty to say today regarding such issues as the Flint water crisis and the NFL players’ kneeing during the National Anthem in reaction to the national climate.

“Can you imagine King’s Twitter!?” Reid said, drawing laughter from the crowd in the packed auditorium and overflow area on the third floor. “He would not have stopped in trying to make this country great.”

A gallery of photos from the President's Luncheon and Keynote Address are posted online. 

About Joy-Ann Reid

She graduated from Harvard University in 1991 with a concentration in film, and is a 2003 Knight Center for Specialized Journalism fellow. She resides in Brooklyn with her husband and family. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @JoyAnnReid and “like” her page on Facebook.

About Eastern Michigan University

Founded in 1849, Eastern is the second oldest university in Michigan. It currently serves more than 20,000 students pursuing undergraduate, graduate, specialist, doctoral and certificate degrees in the arts, sciences and professions. In all, more than 300 majors, minors and concentrations are delivered through the University's Colleges of Arts and Sciences; Business; Education; Health and Human Services; Technology, and its graduate school. EMU is regularly recognized by national publications for its excellence, diversity, and commitment to applied education. For more information about Eastern Michigan University, visit the University's website.

January 17, 2018

Written by:
Geoff Larcom

Media Contact:
Geoff Larcom
glarcom@emich.edu
734-487-4400