News

Harvard Quietly Resolves Anti-Palestinian Discrimination Complaint With Ed. Department

News

Following Dining Hall Crowds, Harvard College Won’t Say Whether It Tracked Wintersession Move-Ins

News

Harvard Outsources Program to Identify Descendants of Those Enslaved by University Affiliates, Lays Off Internal Staff

News

Harvard Medical School Cancels Class Session With Gazan Patients, Calling It One-Sided

News

Garber Privately Tells Faculty That Harvard Must Rethink Messaging After GOP Victory

Higginbotham Advocates Action In Honor of King's Memory

By Elizabeth A. Leiman

Martin Luther King Jr. faced problems problems of social justice different from those America faces today, but America must pursue them with King's commitment and philosophy, A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr. told about 300 people at the second annual Martin Luther King Lecture at Science Center C yesterday.

Higginbotham emphasized the special responsibility of Harvard's "privileged community" in carrying out King's work.

Students. quick to challenge injustice in college, fail to use their analytic talents later, and "having donned their 'Brooks Brothers' and 'Brooks Sisters' three-piece suits don't give a second thought to the still persistent injustices," he said.

King fought these injustices as a moral obligation, Higginbotham said, adding that this obligation went above his respect for the legal process to appeal to higher laws of humanity.

Remember

Higginbotham stressed the danger of becoming complacent about King's achievements of desegregation. The achievements are of no use "if all that we have is desegregated, inferior education for blacks," he said.

He added job equality has no value if blacks cannot get jobs in the first place.

Higginbotham is a judge on the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. He is author of "In the Matter of Color," published in 1978, a book that explores how the legal process contributed to black economic and social exploitation in the colonial period.

Want to keep up with breaking news? Subscribe to our email newsletter.

Tags