“The Legacy Of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” Lecture Draws Crowd Despite Absent Speaker

Written by Samuel Turgeon

On February 1, 2023, the Crystal Room served as the center of a thrum of student activity. “The Legacy Of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” drew a large crowd, and extra seats were required to accommodate the numerous students. USJ’s Diversity Council, a group of faculty and staff chaired by USJ’s president, provided cookies and refreshments for the lecture.

The event was initially planned to feature three speakers, Father Joseph Cheah, Professor Stephen Balkaran, and Dr. John Selders. Cheah and Balkaran are both USJ faculty, while Selders is an ordained minister in service of the United Church of Christ and the organizing pastor of Amistad UCC in Hartford. Unfortunately, an emergency arose and Selders was unable to attend. Despite this, Cheah and Balkaran still provided stirring and informative lectures.

Father Cheah initiated the lecture and emphasized that Martin Luther King Jr. was primarily a clergyman. He grew up in a family of clergymen and followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. He claimed to have never had a first-hand experience with God, but this changed after he received a number of threatening phone calls. During a moment of desperate prayer, King heard the voice of God, which encouraged him to stand up for righteousness in his time of weakness. Cheah went on to emphasize the ways that King’s work benefitted non-black minorities and paved the way for widespread equality. He provided direct support to the Asian American community and advocated against the Vietnam War. Cheah closed with a powerful statement, claiming that King was “not just a clergyman, but a prophet, a martyr, and most importantly, a saint.”

While Father Cheah focused on King as a clergyman, Professor Balkaran emphasized the political aspects of King’s legacy. King understood that he needed to take action in order to get things done. Balkaran raised two values associated with King’s life: respect and accountability. King bravely demanded respect in the face of 350 years of blatant racism and prejudice, and he worked to hold the government accountable for the promises that they had made in the Constitution. Balkaran explained that the integration of the races had left a blindspot regarding continued injustices, which King fought to abolish. Balkaran closed his lecture by informing the audience of the title of King’s final speech. His final speech was titled “Why America May Go To Hell,” and he was assassinated before he was given the chance to perform it. The speech acknowledged systemic racism and advocated for radical changes in the structure of society.

The MLK legacy event was a wonderfully informative and powerful way to kick off Black History Month. Father Cheah and Professor Balkaran are both spectacular orators and did a wonderful job holding down the fort despite Dr. Selder’s absence. The overwhelming student attendance suggests that there’s an appetite for lectures that deal with social issues, and it’s likely that USJ will see more of them in the future.

Those with USJ school accounts can access a recording of the lecture at this link.

For more coverage of Black History month, check out this article about the Black History Month Transcribe-A-Thon: Community Service Spotlight: MLK Black History Month Transcribe-A-Thon

Photograph: Samuel Turgeon