Environmental policy expert Julian Agyeman delivers his keynote MLK Day address in the Bates College Chapel. (Photographs by Phyllis Graber Jensen)

“Environmental quality and human equality are inextricably linked,” environmental policy expert Julian Agyeman stated in his keynote address for Bates’ Martin Luther King Jr. Day observances Jan. 16.

“True environmental well-being will only exist when there is human well-being.”

Environmental justice, a human-centered approach to environmentalism, was the theme of 2012 King Day activities at Bates. The Bates organizers proceeded upon the premise that, had he lived, civil-rights icon King’s attention to environmental justice wouldn’t have stopped with the Memphis sanitation workers and their demands for equality.

Bates and Morehouse debaters trade arguments before a packed Olin Arts Center Concert Hall audience.

As Agyeman and others made clear, environmental justice is no synonym for sustainability. Instead, it posits that true sustainability isn’t possible without human equality. The concept unified several days’ worth of events at Bates, including a Friday evening performance by environmental justice activist Marc Bamuthi Joseph, a weekend environmental film festival, and on Monday, in addition to Agyeman’s keynote, a full slate of workshops exploring the concept.

The theme may have gotten its most spirited treatment Monday afternoon during the annual Rev. Benjamin Elijah Mays ’20 Debate, in which debaters from Bates and Morehouse College, in a machine-gun battle of rhetoric before a packed Olin Concert Hall, explored the compatibility of environmental sustainability and social justice.

More about King Weekend events at Bates:
Performances by Marc Bamuthi Joseph
The King Memorial Service
Video: Agyeman delivers King Memorial Service Homily
MLK Slide Show on Flickr

Interim President Nancy Cable, Dean of the Faculty Pamela Baker ’70 and King Day Committee chair Charles Nero, professor of rhetoric and African American studies, also spoke during Monday morning’s keynote gathering in a filled-to-capacity College Chapel.

Cable introduced Agyeman, professor and chair of urban and environmental policy and planning at Tufts University, as “one of the world’s leading voices for environmental stewardship and justice.”

Agyeman started out by distinguishing between the sustainability and the environmental-justice movements. He characterized the former as focused on threats to the natural world, largely white and middle-class, deliberative and exclusive, in fact if not by design, because its privileging of expertise.

From left, Assistant Professor of African American and American Cultural Studies Myron Beasley and Professor of Spanish Balthazar Fra-Molinero discuss the MLK Day program while awaiting the keynote address.

Focusing on threats to human health and dignity, the latter is multicultural, disadvantaged, inclusive — and angry, as the poorest people continue to bear the brunt of environmental degradation.

The speaker plotted out a middle course between the two. The concept of “just sustainability,” which Agyeman originated with Robert D. Bullard and Bob Evans, calls for the establishment of a better quality of life for all, in a just and equitable manner, and respecting the limits of the ecosystems that support us.

He offered six examples of approaches to just sustainability:

• Urban design that fosters meaningful interaction between diverse cultural groups, as exemplified by the cities of London and Toronto. The field of urban planning, Agyeman said, does not now emphasize “cultural competence” — the understanding of diversity — in its education and practice. If our planners are not culturally competent, he asked, what hope is there for the creation of effectively intercultural cities?
• Enforceable levels of resource consumption that ensure a fair share for all — the tenet most likely to raise an outcry in the U.S., whose citizens represent only 4 percent of the world’s population but consume 25 percent of the world’s resources. “This is the most dangerous statistic on Earth,” said Agyeman. Unfair now, this disproportion will become a recipe for disaster as nations like China and India seek to emulate American standards of living.
• Basing the measurement of progress on factors like happiness and well-being, rather than economic metrics like gross national product. At the moment, he said, “we don’t measure what matters.”
• Promoting food justice and supporting urban agriculture.
• The sharing and co-production of resources and systems. Agyeman pointed to Zipcar, Wikipedia and other 21st-century phenomena as examples of facility and service models based on cooperation, collaboration and utility, which make efficient use of resources, rather than individual possession and entrepreneurship. “What we’re seeing is the beginning of a paradigm shift,” he said.
• Finally, “spatial justice,” which embraces such concepts as the equitable distribution of livable lands and the democratization of the streetscape.

“There’s always a social-justice element to sustainability questions,” Agyeman concluded. “To me, sustainable development and just sustainability mean using our unlimited mental resources, not our limited environmental resources.”

Baker used her time at the podium to review the promise and reality of Bates egalitarianism, and outlined current initiatives in the vital work of improving diversity and access at the college. In outlining the history of Bates’ King Day observances, Nero offered a shout-out to Sankofa, the student group whose Monday evening performance would be a highlight of the day.

Sankofa director Bethel Kifle '14 acknowledges appreciation from the Schaeffer Theatre audience and production's cast at the end of the evening's performance.

And in her welcome to the throng, which included Bates President-elect Clayton Spencer, Interim President Cable evoked the African philosophical concept of “ubuntu,” which she described as “the shared essence of our humanity,” or, in a translation by Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee, “I am what I am because of who we all are.”

Cable said, “We aren’t truly ourselves unless we are related to others.”

Editorial assistants from the Communications and Media Relations office at Bates covered a range of King Day events. Here are their reports. — Editor

Debate: ‘This house believes that religion is a necessary element of a just social change’

Students, faculty and community members braved the snow and packed into the Benjamin Mays Center as the debate teams of Bates and Morehouse colleges gathered for their annual Martin Luther King Day contest. The resolution was “This house believes that religion is a necessary element of a just social change.” Moderated by Mircea Lupu ’11, Brooks Quimby debaters Ariela Silberstein ’10 and Colin Etnire ’12 represented the government, with Morehouse junior Matt Johnson and sophomore A.J. Smith in opposition. In a vigorous and skillful tug-of-war over what is necessary to achieve justice, arguments explored such concepts as religion’s capacity for shifting the moral focus of its practitioners and the idea that good will is not inherent in religious people. Midway through, the audience was invited to participate in floor speeches, and members of the Bates community contributed beliefs, historical references and experiences regarding the resolution. But unlike most debates, this one had no winner: As director of debate Jan Hovden said, what’s far more important than deciding who is right and who is wrong is the opportunity to “meet at the intersection of social change and religion” and have a provocative conversation. (Naima Murphy ’10)

Workshop: ‘ “Aliens, Townies, and Terrorists”: The Politics of Representation on Halloween’

Students piled into a Pettengill classroom to gain perspective and share opinions about costumes, clothing, the meanings of dressing as self or other, and the often-mindless implications and assumptions that people display about race and identity through their apparel. Senior anthropology majors Julia Caffrey, Emily Chin, Nori Down, Katie Mack, Caitlin McKitrick, Lily Sullivan and Natalie Woolworth led this discussion focused on the complicated issues of context, intention vs. reception, and costume vs. clothing. The discussion began with a critical investigation of potentially offensive Halloween costumes (“Native American princess,” “terrorist” and “townie,” to name a few). The panelists invited the viewpoints of the attendees, withholding their own perspectives until the latter group had spoken. Down posed the thought-provoking question: “Whose right is it to decide if [a costume] is offensive or if it’s just a joke?” Another topic was the dilemma of deciding when the clothing of another culture is flattering and at what point it becomes offensive. Is it OK to transplant practices from one culture to another for the sake of art and entertainment? Although there were clearly many areas of disagreement, the panelists promoted politeness as a way to unite people in these difficult situations. Woolworth suggested that the most effective ways to address such issues and prevent offensive situations are to “talk about it before it happens” and try to better align our intentions and possible receptions before choosing an outfit. (Marielle Vigneau-Britt ’10)

Film: ‘Brother to Brother’

Writer, producer and director Rodney Evans was on hand to present his award-winning 2004 film “Brother to Brother.” The film follows the emotional journey of Perry, a young, gay black artist living in modern New York who learns about the hidden culture of gay and lesbian writers and poets during the Harlem Renaissance. Perry is based upon Evans’ own experiences, but also has a historical perspective. Perry befriends an elderly homeless man who turns out to be an important figure of the Harlem Renaissance. This man, Bruce Nugent, teaches Perry about the difficulties confronting gays and lesbians during this time period — which haven’t changed much. Authors Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston are also depicted in the film’s flashbacks of Nugent’s young adulthood. The film, which took six years to make and combines a mix of filmic genres including historical footage, began with a short diary segment about Evans’ experiences as a black gay man in New York. Presented by professor Charles Nero, chair of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Committee at Bates, Evans offered a short introduction and answered a few questions from an audience that filled Pettengill G21 to overflowing. The most interesting query, in the context of a day that examines inequality from all angles, involved the scarcity of films about lesbians relative to those about gay men. Evans replied that all women filmmakers find it harder than men to raise money, and for lesbians it’s even harder. (Brittney French ’11)

Workshop: ‘Something Sanctified: The Relationship of Black Sacred Music to Jazz’

The audience at Tom Hayward’s workshop could not sit still. The group in the Pettengill classroom, even the lecturer himself, couldn’t help but nod heads and tap feet to the music of Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Charles Mingus and other jazz greats. A lecturer in classical and medieval studies and a reference librarian at Bates, Hayward is also a passionate jazz aficionado whose MLK Day presentation showed connections between African American spirituals and the evolution of jazz. And Hayward looked directly to Martin Luther King Jr. with the Ellington tune “King Fit the Battle of Alabam.” Ellington adapted it from the gospel song “Joshua Fit the Battle [of Jericho],” changing the lyrics to honor King and the civil rights marchers of Birmingham, Ala. — a moving commemoration of this great leader. (Gabrielle Otto ’11)

Film: ‘Neighbor by Neighbor’

The day’s events included a look at the power of community organizing as the documentary “Neighbor by Neighbor: Mobilizing an Invisible Community in Lewiston” by Craig Saddlemire ’05 was shown in the Olin Arts Center. The film emphasizes the need for just representation and community engagement in the civic arena, linking the social mobilization tactics of King’s era with contemporary concerns. The 90-minute film chronicles changes in a downtown neighborhood from 2003 to 2008 as residents, calling themselves the Visible Community, organized to resist a proposed urban renewal plan unveiled in June 2004. The city government proposed a new access road that would demolish a community garden and affordable housing for 850 residents. The film reminds us that the kinds of injustice King fought against are still a factor. Saddlemire hopes his film’s example of nonviolent activism at the local level will inspire awareness and political action nationally. “Community organization is the basis of everything,” he said in an interview.

“The more opportunities you give people to meet each other at eye level, share stories of struggle and develop empathy for one another, despite social and economic differences, the more people are willing to work for one another’s needs and interests.” A discussion with Saddlemire and members of the Visible Community followed the screening, with attendees inquiring about the organization’s growing interaction with local government, including the election of one member to the city council. As the session closed, the conversation with local residents flowed out into the Olin Arts Center corridors, carrying beyond the classroom the collaboration among citizens from varying class dynamics and levels of privilege. (Kelly Cox ’11)

Workshop: ‘Flannery O’Connor and the Matter of Race: Continuing the Conversation’

The age-old conflict between loving an artist’s work and deploring the artist’s attitude drove this workshop exploring one example of racial issues in literature. Though deploring O’Connor’s racism, Multifaith Chaplain William Blaine-Wallace and Eden Osucha, assistant professor of English, explained that they have nevertheless been deeply affected by the author’s writing. Reflecting the day’s unifying theme of faith and ethics in the public sphere, the session looked at the author’s strict Catholicism, her bigotry toward African Americans, and how these attitudes influenced her writing. Workshop attendees related their own O’Connor experiences, voicing varied interpretations of the author’s caricatures of African Americans. But Osucha noted that if reading the author’s often grotesque and inflammatory work is hard, its examination is important to continued progress in the dialogue on race. (Caty Green ’10)

Student arts and performance: ‘The Evening Program’

Every seat in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall was taken as student performances brought Martin Luther King Jr. Day to a close. Highlights of the nighttime talent showcase included the Bates Gospelaires, a new gospel choir whose performance reflected the day’s theme, “Faith and Ethics in the Public Sphere”; and the Bates Step Team, representing the African American dance genre that uses the whole body as percussion by stomping and clapping. The team asked what King’s dream meant to the audience, who responded with “power,” “hope,” “faith,” “integrity,” and finally a standing ovation. Other offerings included a scene from Martin Duberman’s play “In White America”; a variety of dance performances; a hip-hop/R&B performance on devastation caused by HIV in the black community; and the student band “The Hybrid Suns,” who played two original songs relevant to King’s legacy. The Bates Students for Relief in Haiti also took up a collection. As baskets were passed and students reached for their wallets, Anthony Miller, a Morehouse College senior, gave a convincing reading of King’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech, bringing the crowd to its feet in thunderous applause. Outside the hall in the Olin lobby, junior Clyde Bango of Harare, Zimbabwe, showed portraits and sculpture that he created of King. (Becca Chacko ’10)

The Rev. John Mendez, pastor of the Emmanuel Baptist Church, Winston-Salem, N.C., and the Winston-Salem Chronicle’s 1994 Man of the Year, is the keynote speaker for the 2005 Martin Luther King Jr. Day observances at Bates College. Classes at the college are canceled and special programming is scheduled throughout the day with an emphasis on the theme From Montgomery to Memphis: Martin Luther King’s Legacy of Labor, Justice and Dignity.

Scheduled for 10:45 a.m. Monday, Jan. 17, in the Bates College Chapel, Mendez’s address is part of a celebration of King’s life and work that includes performances, workshops, exhibitions and a debate with Bates, Morehouse and Spelman college participants. All events are open to the public free of charge. For more information, call 207-786-6400 or see a complete list of scheduled events for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

On the eve of King’s 1968 assassination, the civil rights leader was in Memphis, Tenn., organizing striking sanitation workers and planning for a poor-people’s march in the nation’s capital. King’s support for non-unionized labor is a central component of his legacy that is often overlooked, says John McClendon, associate professor of African American and American cultural studies at Bates. Chaired by McClendon, the Bates committee that organizes the annual observance of King’s birthday chose to recognize King’s commitment to labor as this year’s theme.

MLK Day events at Bates start with an opening reception at 4:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 14, in Chase Hall Gallery, Campus Avenue, for Unfree Labor and the Production of Language: An Exhibition of Words, a display curated by Czerny Brasuell, director of multicultural affairs, and Baltasar Fra-Molinero, associate professor of Spanish. On display through Jan. 24, the exhibition showcases artifacts reflecting the Creole languages that arose as a result of slavery and the African diaspora.

In a second exhibition honoring King’s birthday and Black History Month, the college displays The Photography of Griffith Jerome Davis from Jan. 10 to Feb. 15 in the George and Helen Ladd Library. The first roving editor for Ebony Magazine, Davis was a photojournalist and U.S. foreign service officer who was mentored by the Morehouse College President Benjamin Mays, Bates Class of 1920. The exhibition includes images from the U.S. civil rights movement, the independence movements of Africa and African American life in segregated Atlanta. Davis’ daughter, Dorothy Davis, will speak about his life and work at 4:45 p.m. Monday, Jan. 17, in Ladd Library.

The college also co-sponsors an annual MLK Day Read-In where faculty, staff, students and members of the community will share a picture book with Martel School students in grades 4-6 at 1 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 20, and Friday, Jan. 21. Those interested in volunteering should e-mail Brooke Miller at this bmiller@bates.edu or call 207-786-8273.

The King Day observance begins on the eve of the holiday, at 7 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 16, with a memorial service of worship, including a sermon and music,  in the College Chapel, College Street.

Student debaters from Bates, Morehouse and Spelman colleges kick off King Day itself when they argue the topic, “College Employees Should Unionize.” The debaters will be introduced at 9 a.m. Monday, Jan. 17,  in Chase Hall Lounge, Campus Avenue.

The debate will begin at 9:30 a.m. The match has historic resonance for the schools, which share a continuing commitment to collaborative projects. Founded in 1881, Spelman is one of the nation’s most highly regarded colleges for women. The nation’s largest liberal arts college for men, Morehouse was Martin Luther King Jr.’s alma mater. One of its longtime presidents was Bates graduate and accomplished debater Benjamin Mays,  a lifelong adviser to the great civil rights leader and the assassinated King’s eulogizer in 1968.

The Rev. John Mendez delivers his 10:45 a.m. keynote address in the Bates College Chapel.

A native of New York City, Mendez has pastored the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Winston-Salem for the past 21 years. Noted for his contributions to civil and human rights, Mendez has served as a consultant on many fact-finding missions, including investigations of Hawaiian land rights; pollution on Vieques Island, Puerto Rico; U.S. war crimes in Nicaragua and El Salvador; peace initiatives in Angola; the Mount Graham Apache Sacred Site; and the land rights of the Black Hills Lakota.

Widely recognized for his activism and community service, Mendez has received the Wendell-Wake County NAACP Humanitarian Award, the President’s Award of the Winston-Salem NAACP and Honorary Keeper of the Constitution given by the North Carolina Secretary of State.

An experienced lecturer, Mendez is a founding member of Re-framing the Dialogue on Racism, an organization that recruits, trains and builds a community of 100 white clergy from different denominations across the country to create strategies, ministries and programs at the congregational level that address racism in the white community.

Mendez participated in a pilot project on the black church’s economic responsibility for a new urban agenda at the Harvard University Divinity School. Mendez is a graduate of Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C.; Southeastern Baptist Theological Center in Atlanta, Ga; and the New York-based Postgraduate Center of Mental Health in pastoral counseling, psychoanalysis and psychotherapy.

A series of concurrent Monday afternoon workshops hosted by various academic departments and student organizations begins at 1:15, 2:30 and 3:35 p.m. respectively in Pettengill Hall in classrooms throughout the building. The workshops, featuring speakers and discussion, will focus on labor justice. Topics range from the life of 19th-century African American Bates alumna Stella James Sims to the interaction between King-era social activism and labor, from Lewiston labor history to impacts of the Vietnam War on the U.S. working class. For more information about the workshops, call 207-786-6400 or see a complete listing.

The afternoon’s events culminate with Dorothy Davis’ 4:45 p.m. talk in Ladd Library about her father, Griffith Jerome Davis, and his life, work and close connection to Morehouse College president Benjamin Mays ’20. A pathfinder in the field of international public affairs and special events, Ms. Davis has built international platforms for dialogue to promote respect for cultural differences. Her multicultural consulting firm, The Diasporan Touch, extends her commitment to build bridges between people, cultures and issues worldwide. The firm’s clients include the Executive Office of the Secretary General of the United Nations, the World Health Organization and The Alliance of Mayors and Municipal Leaders on HIV/AIDS in Africa. Davis also manages and curates “Photos by Griff Davis,” her father’s 55,000 photographic images.

The entire King Day observance concludes with a performance at 7:30 p.m. in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall featuring The Fruit of Labor Singing Ensemble, the cultural arm of the civil rights and worker rights organization Black Workers for Justice. The six-member group performs songs from the history of people’s movements for social change, using African American music styles of rhythm & blues, gospel, reggae, jazz, folk, work songs and chants. The ensemble’s interactive performance includes a video presentation and invites audience participation.