HANOVER — Addressing the crowd at Dartmouth College’s Rollins Chapel on Thursday evening, assistant professor of sociology Shaonta’ Allen asked audience members to close their eyes and imagine what a liberated society might look like.
Silence blanketed the warm hall as people bowed their heads in concentration.
“Maybe you dreamed of communities that are united by their differences, rather than being segregated by them,” Allen said, after a few moments had passed. Others might have imagined a world where indigenous communities could return to their native soil, Allen said, or where workers were paid a living wage.
“Our dreams might vary, but they all shed light on the bigger picture, that we have work to do, and now is the time for truth and action,” Allen said.
Allen, the keynote speaker at a public multifaith celebration of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. hosted by the college’s William Jewett Tucker Center for Spiritual and Ethical Living, imparted the importance of imagining a better future, even one that’s never been seen before.
“Ask yourself, who benefits when we are not able to articulate what we would like to see in the future, but can only describe what we’d like to tear down?” she said.
Thursday’s event, which is part of a weeks-long celebration of King’s life and activism, has been a tradition at Dartmouth for decades.
“The program means so much to me,” said Maria Lamson, of South Royalton, who’s been attending the event for more years than she could count.
“The interfaith concept is just so important,” she said, because it serves as a reminder of “how unified we have to be.”
In the past few years, there’s been a concerted effort at the Tucker Center to include Dartmouth students and faculty in the programming to focus on how “we as a community celebrate and honor and remember” King’s Legacy, Rev. Nancy A. G. Vogele, the chaplain and director of the center, said in a Friday interview.
Allen’s speech was preceded by remarks from students and musical performances from the Dartmouth College Gospel Choir and the a cappella group, the Rockapellas.
Ruby Benjamin, a member of the class of ’26 and the president of the Rohr Chabad Center at Dartmouth, which supports Jewish life on campus, spoke about her grandfather, a conservative rabbi, who studied under King’s friend, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel.
Inspired by Heschel’s teachings, her grandfather began attending civil rights marches. He found King’s dedication to nonviolent action to be “truly and deeply American — rooted in a love for the people of this country and a desire to right the wrongs of systemic discrimination,” Benjamin said.
Her grandfather sought to impart the same love for one’s fellow neighbor in his work, and Benjamin endeavors to do the same, she said.
“…With (my grandfather) as my witness, and with Dr. King as an inspiration to us all, I pray that we find unity in each other’s humanity,” she said.
Cultivating “a political imagination” was the first of three strategies Allen offered to “remain loyal to liberation in your own lives.”
“Unless we have the space to imagine and envision what it means to fully realize our humanity, all of the protests and demonstrations in the world will not bring about our liberation,” she said.
Her second strategy revolved around choosing political models to fuel one’s activism and serve as a guide.
The African American sociologist and civil rights activist W. E. B. Du Bois is chief among her models, as is journalist and academic Ida B. Wells, who, with Du Bois, helped found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP, and documented racialized violence against African Americans.
“Du Bois and Ida both drew upon emotions when caring for and engaging in political activism,” Allen said. Like them, “…We must draw on our emotions and use them as a source of connection and empowerment.”
As a final piece of advice, Allen reminded the audience that “liberation is a process, not a destination.”
“Liberation requires that we collectively fight for a world that we might not see in our own lifetimes, but one that will still be better for future children,” she said.
People’s vision of a better future will differ, but “do not fall for the trap of comparison,” Allen said, “Because history has taught us that comparison is the thief of joy, and when we compare, we often divide ourselves.”
Toward the end of the ceremony, after Allen had spoken, the Rockapellas performed “American Dream,” an introspective piece by Japanese-American, Indigenous and Mexican singer-songwriter Raye Zaragoza.
“I’ve been thinking about the wars, and to be honest, I can’t take it anymore,” the Rockapellas sang out.
The sun had set by then, and the windows of the chapel showed only black night.
“But hate can’t be the face of the American dream,” the song continued.
When the Rockapellas had finished, audience members lit candles, and doctoral student Apoorva Joshi recited Om Sahana Vavatu, a Sanskrit mantra that asks for protection and learning between a teacher and student.
“This mantra reminds us that learning and growth are collective acts; no one rises alone,” Joshi said.
Reflection soon gave way to jubilation when the Dartmouth College Gospel Choir led the crowd in an enlivened rendition of the gospel song “We Shall Overcome.”
Audience members clapped their hands as the choir swayed from side to side, belting the words: “We shall overcome, we shall overcome.”
The campus-wide celebration of King continues on Wednesday, with a public conversation between his youngest daughter, Bernice A. King, and author and scholar Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor at 7 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom of the Hanover Inn.
Bernice A. King will share reflections on her father’s legacy and her experience as the CEO of the King Center, an Atlanta-based research center that teaches King’s philosophy of nonviolence to students and educators.
The event was at capacity as of Friday, but those interested can add their name to the waiting list by going to ide.dartmouth.edu/mlk-celebration. A livestream link will also be available at 5 p.m. on Wednesday on the Dartmouth College website.
To learn more about other events happening on campus as part of the celebration, go to ide.dartmouth.edu/mlk-celebration/mlk-events.