纪念博士. Martin Luther King Jr.
2023年1月13日
Dear Skidmore Community,
In the days ahead, we once again 有 the opportunity to honor 和 celebrate the impact,
teachings, 和 influence of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday is commemorated
by a national holiday this Monday, Jan. 16.
Last year, in my annual 总统’s Message for MLK Day, I emphasized how 国王的 teachings
push against the current impulse toward polarization, toward us-versus-them, toward
intolerance 和 demonizing. I find that message as current in January of 2023 as it
was in January of 2022, though I also see encouraging signs all around us that give
me hope that our world is reaching toward more underst和ing, more acceptance, 和
更多的包容.
To be sure, signs of discouragement are all around us as well, often with greater
clamor 和 attention than the signs of hope. But that is all the more reason to assert
with steady insistence on what unites us, what we 有 in common, what we 拥抱
在彼此之间. 这是 the conclusion Ralph Ellison reaches at the very end of his
magisterial novel of 1952, “Invisible Man,” where he states: “I defend because in
spite of all I find that I love. In order to get some of it down I 有 去爱. I sell you no phony forgiveness … but too much of your life will be lost,
its meaning lost, unless you approach it as much through love as through hate. So
I approach it through division so I denounce 和 I defend 和 I hate 和 I love.”
Ellison, like King, recognized that in America we denounce 和 保护,爱 和 恨,拒绝 和 拥抱. Ours is indeed a nation of contradictions.
国王的 拥抱 of this is much of what I find so admirable in this remarkable man.
As he memorably stated in his 1964 Nobel Prize acceptance speech, “I believe that
unarmed truth 和 unconditional love will 有 the final word in reality. 这是
why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.King继续说道
to teach us about justice, about political possibility, about our shared humanity,
about how race 和 gender 和 nationality are only 元素 of identity, not the determinant of our being. And ultimately, he teaches us about
love, that most fundamental of human traits that shows our greatest possibility 和
权力. He said, “Love is the greatest force in the universe. It is the heartbeat of
道德的宇宙. He who loves is a participant in the being of God."
In times of anxiety 和 challenge, I urge us to hold to the teachings of King, whatever
they mean to us 和 however we conceive of them, 和 thereby to bring out our better
angels 和 see in our sisters 和 brothers the blessings that they are.
As we pay tribute to Dr. 国王的 life 和 work, Skidmore is again partnering with MLK
Saratoga to honor his legacy,和 I encourage all members of our community to participate in Dr. King Celebration Weekend events from Friday, Jan. 13, through Monday, Jan. 16. A full lineup of performances,
presentations, 和 service opportunities, 可以在上面找到吗 Dr. King Celebration Weekend website.
我希望你能 join in this community-wide celebration, it is my hope that we may all honor Dr. 国王的
legacy 和 teachings each 和 every day, at Skidmore 和 beyond.
真诚地,
马克·康纳
总统