Each and every one of us is called to help build this beloved community. Not all of us will speak to thousands of people and not all of us will win Nobel Peace Prizes. But we can uplift those we interact with in our daily lives.
The dream of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — to live, work and play in a world without injustice, intolerance or inequality — can come true.
Under the theme “Building a Beloved Community at MATC,” Milwaukee Area Technical College commemorated Dr. King’s birthday, honored his accomplishments and shared inspirational messages to continue this work.
The keynote speaker was the Rev. Nontombi Naomi Tutu, daughter of the late Archbishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and theologian known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist.
Rev. Tutu delivered an empowering speech, “Our Shared Humanity: Creating Understanding Through the Principles of MLK.” She encouraged attendees to combine Dr. King’s dream of the “Beloved Community” with the teachings of the South African philosophy Ubuntu, speaking to the need to understand how our actions, or inactions, affect all with whom we come in contact and ourselves.
Rather than focus on what separates us, Rev. Tutu, an Episcopal priest and a race and gender justice activist, encouraged attendees to focus on their shared humanity to build a just world. But creating what Dr. King called his beloved community takes diligence, perseverance, resolve, and, most of all, love from everyone every day.
More than 200 MATC students, faculty, staff, elected officials and community members attended the celebration at MATC’s Downtown Milwaukee Campus on Wednesday, January 15.
“Do not give back hate to hate, denigration to denigration, or evil to evil,” Rev. Tutu said. “It’s tempting to dehumanize people who dehumanize us. That’s the easy way. But the easy has never healed our world. It has caused bitterness and divisiveness. Our differences make us strong. Our different gifts are important for our survival and the key to us thriving as a community.”
See TV coverage of the event
In her speech, Rev. Tutu combined Dr. King’s dream of the beloved community with the teachings of Ubuntu, an African philosophy that emphasizes the interconnectedness of individuals with their surrounding societal and physical worlds.
“We each come to the world as a gift,” she said. “We respect ourselves and all of those we come in contact with because we see them as fully human. Our actions must flow from this belief.
“Each and every one of us is called to help build this beloved community,” she added. “Not all of us will speak to thousands of people and not all of us will win Nobel Peace Prizes. But we can uplift those we interact with in our daily lives. We must refuse to fuel bitterness, oppression and division. We need to be caring about and caring for each other.”
MATC is working to create a caring culture of equity and excellence by eliminating achievement gaps between students, hiring more people of color as faculty and staff, being designated a Hispanic-Serving Institution, and establishing an environment of respect, belonging, welcoming and mattering, said MATC President Anthony Cruz, Ed.D., at the event.
“The beloved community is not a lofty goal; it’s realistic and achievable,” Dr. Cruz said. “I challenge all of us to recommit ourselves to kindness and compassion, and to help make the beloved community come true in 2025.”
Dr. King accomplished so much before he was assassinated in 1968, said Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, the city’s first elected Black mayor.
“He is why African American students can learn in the same classrooms as the rest of their community. He’s why Milwaukee could elect an African American as mayor,” Johnson said. “But his work is far from finished. We need to continue his fight against equality. We need to be the change we wish to see in the world.”
The world of MATC student Nefataria Gordon has changed radically in the past three generations. Her great-grandmother toiled as a sharecropper in Tennessee, tending to crops she never owned. Gordon’s grandmother moved the family to Milwaukee to find a better life. Gordon, who serves as vice president of MATC’s Black Student Union, lives on what today is called Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Milwaukee.
“It’s not enough to dream of a better world; we have to work to create it,” Gordon said at the event. “We need to do that hard work every day, not just on Dr. King’s birthday. We need to uplift everyone yesterday, today and tomorrow.”
Also at the event, a vocal jazz ensemble from Milwaukee Public Schools’ Milwaukee High School of the Arts performed two songs, including “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” known as the country’s unofficial Black national anthem, and community writer, musician and activist Brit Nicole delivered a spoken word poem.
About MATC: Wisconsin’s largest technical college and one of the most diverse two-year institutions in the Midwest, Milwaukee Area Technical College is a key driver of southeastern Wisconsin’s economy and has provided innovative education in the region since 1912. More than 30,000 students per year attend the college’s four campuses and community-based sites or learn online. MATC offers affordable and accessible education and training opportunities that empower and transform lives in the community. The college offers more than 180 academic programs — many that prepare students for jobs immediately upon completion and others that provide transfer options leading to bachelor’s degrees with more than 40 four-year colleges and universities. Overwhelmingly, MATC graduates build careers and businesses in southeastern Wisconsin. The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.