![\"MLK-Cele](\"\/camed\/files\/2017\/01\/MLK-Cele-_1460-636x468.jpg\")
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To celebrate the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, more than 100 members of the medical campus community gathered in the Hiebert Lounge on Thursday, Jan. 20, to hear BU\u2019s Associate Provost and Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore, JD.<\/p>\n
The event opened with audio of Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s famous \u201cI Have a Dream\u201d speech. Elmore began by sharing that his speech was going to be very personal. \u201cI never would have dreamed to be in a position where I get to honor Dr. King. That is something in which my parents take incredible pride.\u201d noted. He explained that his mother was brought to tears when she found out he would be speaking about MLK because \u201ca lot of people fought very hard\u201d to give him such an incredible opportunity.<\/p>\n
His remarks, \u201cOn the Way We Go: Chaos or Community?” were based on a book by King with a similar title, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?<\/em> \u201cI\u2019m one of those people who thinks a little chaos and a little community can do well by us now,\u201d he confessed. Elmore noted that King felt \u201cPower without love is reckless and abusive; and love without power is sentimental and anemic.\u201d He explained that this sentiment might characterize our national climate over the past few years \u2013 including issues such as war, underprivileged schools, lack of the middle class, etc. After the tragic 2016 shootings in Dallas, Elmore reached the crossroad of chaos and community. He reengaged with people in different ways and reevaluated what his \u201cbubbles\u201d were.<\/p>\n He reflected on his past and shared the refrain of a church song from his youth that especially spoke to him, \u201cAin\u2019t gonna let nobody turn me around\u2026I\u2019m gonna keep on walking, keep on talking, marching up to freedom land.\u201d The song was part of his youth and was sung to by his congregation to members when they were about to take a significant step in their lives. It was sung to Elmore when he left for college and it stuck with him. The song reminded him of the freedom riders of the civil rights movement, and he realized he could not live ahistorically. When he \u201csaw with history in mind,\u201d he saw all the people that tried to help move the country forward.<\/p>\n Elmore\u2019s speech was followed by a musical interlude with Margaret Lee, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Dermatology, and Mois\u00e8s Fern\u00e1ndez Via, Founding Director of Arts | Lab @ Med Campus, and an energetic town hall discussion. Along with Elmore, Associate Dean of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs Rafael Ortega, MD, and Jonathan Woodson, Faculty Director at the BU Institute for Health System Innovation, facilitated a discussion that allowed the community to voice their concerns and questions. The event provided support and reflection on the eve of Inauguration Day.<\/p>\n To view more photos from the event, visit our Facebook album<\/a>.<\/p>\n The event was sponsored by BUSM Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs in collaboration with the BMC Human Resources Department, Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine Office of Diversity, BU School of Public Health and the BMC Minority Recruitment Program. To view the event, click here<\/a>. F<\/span>or optimal viewing, please view in Firefox, Chrome, or Safari browsers.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" More than 100 members of the medical campus community joined BU Associate Provost and Dean of Students Kenn Elmore, JD, to reflect and celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12772,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[124,91],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42698"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12772"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42698"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42703,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42698\/revisions\/42703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}