Unarmed Truths: Celebrating the Life and Legacy of MLK
Enter Low Library for tonight's event via the southwest door
Join in an evening of inspiration and celebration honoring the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Featuring keynote remarks from civil rights and environmental leader Ben Jealous CC’94, student readings, and performances by the Columbia University Gospel Choir and Pizmon — followed by a reception with music, food, drinks, and giveaways.
Columbia College, Engineering and General Studies students, faculty and staff are all welcome as we kick off the Undergraduate Community Initiative’s spring semester programming.
Keynote Speaker: Ben Jealous CC'94
Former NAACP President, Equality activist, and Executive Director of the Sierra Club
Ben Jealous is an American civil rights leader, activist, and politician who is the seventh executive director of the Sierra Club, one of the largest and most influential environmental organizations in the United States.
With a background in social justice advocacy, Ben brought a unique perspective to his role, focusing on issues of environmental justice, climate change, and conservation. Before leading the Sierra Club, he served as the youngest-ever president and CEO of the NAACP, where he spearheaded campaigns to advance civil rights, voting rights, and criminal justice reform. Ben is a passionate advocate for marginalized communities and has dedicated his career to fighting for equality, sustainability, and a healthier planet for future generations.
Ben is also a Professor of Practice at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a New York Times bestselling author of Reach: 40 Black Men Speak on Living, Leading, and Succeeding, and his latest book is Never Forget Our People Were Always Free: A Parable of American Healing. During his term at the NAACP, Ben created pathbreaking partnerships with conservative leaders and Republican governors to help shrink America's prison system as well as expand voting rights and employment opportunities for formerly incarcerated people. In 2013, The Washington Post hailed him as "one of the nation's most prominent civil rights leaders." He was previously the Executive Director of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, an organization of over two hundred historically black-owned newspapers.
A former Rhodes Scholar, Ben is a graduate of Columbia and Oxford Universities and a former visiting professor at Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs.