ANN ARBOR—The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. often returned to the theme of a “beloved community” bound by relatedness, respect, justice and love. King viewed the struggle to resolve conflicts as a platform on which to build this community.

Yet to some, special interest groups today appear to work in opposition to King’s ideal as they encourage division among racial, ethnic, religious, political and economic lines. That’s why “Building the beloved community” is an ideal theme to guide the 20th annual MLK Symposium at the University of Michigan, say members of the 40-member 2007 MLK Symposium Planning Committee. It coordinates and promotes roughly 75 symposium-related events from Jan. 15 into February.

Highlights of the 20th anniversary MLK Symposium include a keynote address by former U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume and lectures by syndicated columnist Julianne Malveaux and anti-racist educator and author Tim Wise.

The “beloved community” theme was chosen well before the Nov. 7 passage of Proposal 2, the ballot amendment that outlaws both discrimination and preferential treatment on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender and national origin in public education, employment and contracting in Michigan. In response, President Mary Sue Coleman has called on the U-M community to brainstorm ways to continue to encourage diversity.

“The theme took on particular importance after the passage of Proposal 2,” said Gena Flynn, coordinator for the MLK Symposium. “We wanted to highlight the best efforts to make everyone feel included in our University community.”

John Matlock, associate vice provost and director of the Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives, says the 2007 symposium will have a special meaning to many faculty, staff and students in the wake of Proposal 2’s passage.

“We are really going to have to pull together as a community if we are going to continue our advances toward the diverse community that we have embraced,” he says.

Keynote lecturer Mfume is scheduled to speak at 10 a.m. Jan. 15 at Hill Auditorium. Mfume (pronounced Kwah-EE-see Oom-FOO-may) rose from poverty in Baltimore and became an activist, organizer and radio commentator who won a seat on the Baltimore City Council in 1979 and was elected to Congress in 1986. He served on the Banking and Financial Services Committee and held the ranking seat on the General Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.

During Mfume’s third term, the speaker of the House chose him to serve on the Ethics Committee and the Joint Economic Committee of the House and Senate; Mfume later became chairman. He successfully co-sponsored and helped to pass the Americans with Disabilities Act, strengthened the Equal Credit Opportunity Law and co-authored and successfully amended the Civil Rights Bill of 1991 to apply the act to U.S. citizens working for American-based companies abroad. He also sponsored legislative initiatives banning assault weapons and establishing stalking as a federal crime.

Mfume is expected to address major issues that can hinder communication and will highlight strategies to aid in community building.

In other key MLK Symposium events, syndicated columnist Malveaux, who appears in newspapers across the country including the Los Angeles Times, New Orleans Tribune, Detroit Free Press and San Francisco Examiner and regularly appears as a commentator on network television, is scheduled to address “Economic Justice in the Beloved Community: Where Do We Go From Here,” at 1:30 p.m. in the Mendelssohn Theatre, in the annual lecture sponsored by the Stephen M. Ross School of Business.

The closing speaker is anti-racist educator and author Tim Wise, speaking at noon Jan. 23 in the Pendleton Room of the Michigan Union. The author of “White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son,” Wise is among the most prominent anti-racist writers and activists in the U.S. He has been called “One of the most brilliant, articulate and courageous critics of white privilege in the nation,” by best-selling author and professor Michael Eric Dyson of the University of Pennsylvania.

Wise has spoken in 48 states and on over 400 college campuses. He has provided anti-racism training to teachers nationwide and has trained physicians and medical industry professionals on how to combat racial inequities in health care. He also has trained corporate, government, military and law enforcement officials on methods for dismantling racism in their institutions, and has served as a consultant for plaintiff’s attorneys in federal discrimination cases in New York and Washington state.

Other MLK Symposium highlights include:

–“Building the Beloved (Healthy) Community: A Conversation with Tony Brown” at 11:45 a.m. Jan. 15 in the Dow Auditorium in the Towsley Center, second floor, U-M Hospital. Brown is a best-selling author, educator, radio host, television commentator and film director. He will discuss the challenges of health disparities, the reduction and elimination of health disparities and the promotion of health and wellness in the United States.

–“From Margin to Center: Envisioning,” an address by award-winning journalist and scholar Helen Zia, who has covered Asian-American communities and social and political movements. She is the author of “Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People.” Former President Bill Clinton quoted from the book in two separate speeches in the Rose Garden.

–The symposium “Communities at Risk,” chaired by Phil Bowman, director of the U-M National Center for Institutional Diversity, from 3:30-5 p.m. Jan. 15 in Room 6050 in the Institute for Social Research. Presenters will speak of research on the interrelationships among segregation, concentrated disadvantage and urban crime; the characteristics of urban-based, low-income African American men and how they conceive of work opportunity and other ideals; and urban adolescent self-destructive behaviors and developing father focused interventions.

–Majora Carter of the South Bronx will present “Environmental Justice: Civil Rights for the 21st Century” at 5 p.m. Jan. 15 in Room 1040 in the Dana Building. Carter founded Sustainable South Bronx in 2001. Her agency is demonstrating solutions to persistent urban public health and economic problems and looming global climate change concerns by creating a beautiful physical environment, demonstrating cool and green roof technologies and more environmentally friendly redevelopment.

–“Shaping Criticism,” an address by Lee Bey, Chicago writer, critic, professor and adviser on architecture and urbanism, who is concerned with architectural preservation, regentrification and the architecture of Chicago’s Bronzeville area and other African American neighborhoods.

For additional information contact the Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives, (734) 936-1055 or [email protected].

Schedule of more than 65 events