Speeches & Statements

Remarks at 2025 Delaware County Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration 2025

January 20, 2025

Today, as history unfolds, we find ourselves at a crossroads — one that calls us not just to witness, but to act.

It's meaningful and uplifting to be in fellowship with so many friends and partners on what is, in every sense, a consequential day in American history.

This is also a day for deep introspection. In our nation's capital, a crowd is gathering to inaugurate a president. Here at Ohio Wesleyan — and across this land — we and countless others are gathering to inaugurate in our souls a renewed understanding of justice, a deeper commitment to shared humanity, and the spirit to meet the challenges of our time.

We are a nation experiencing the agony of twin disasters. For the past two weeks in greater Los Angeles, wildfires have ravaged parched land and decimated communities, kindled by climate change. Despite the best efforts of many heroes, the flames rage on, with no end in sight.

For many, those devastating fires conjure memories of another painful blaze. Some sixty years ago, also in LA, the Watts riots ignited, kindled by systemic inequality and racial injustice. After six days, relative peace would return to Watts. But despite the best efforts of many heroes, the embers of hatred and injustice continue to smolder throughout our nation, with no end in sight.

Both disasters are manmade. Both leave us to ask: What will we do to change the conditions that we, ourselves, have created?

But history reminds us that the fires of destruction and the winds of change can actually work hand in hand.

Injustice requires justice. Justice requires growth. And growth requires action. At Ohio Wesleyan, we believe we cannot merely react to challenges; we must shape solutions to them. We grow toward justice by nurturing the roots of our values like boldness, kindness, and innovation — so we can bear the fruit of meaningful change.

As we're learning, growth is never passive; it's a fight – not a fight against people, but a fight for principles, like centering each other's humanity when we disagree vehemently. Like expanding educational opportunity instead of clinging dogmatically to tradition. Like fostering belonging and building bridges when the conveniences of exclusion beckon us back to our comfort zones.

At Ohio Wesleyan, we choose to fight in at least three ways:

First, by democratizing access to a national liberal arts education through programs like the Delaware County Promise. We ensure that opportunity is not a privilege for the few but a right for all.

Second, by embracing humility and responding with intent. We know that we are not perfect, and through partnerships and initiatives like our sister school relationship with Claflin University, we commit ourselves to learning, growing, and improving.

And third, by committing ourselves to constructive dialogue across difference, especially in moments of pain. As one of the first colleges in the nation to offer free formal constructive dialogue training to all students, faculty, and staff, we lean in — not away — when perspectives clash.

The fight for justice isn't easy, but if we seek inspiration, we do find it.

As researchers around the world have observed, a noteworthy thing happens when birds begin to experience the effects of climate change. When birds sense rising temperatures, do you know what they do? They instinctively move to higher ground. Likewise, when the flames we encounter grow too hot, so too must we spread our wings and seek new heights.

Now, to be clear, a move to higher ground is not  retreat; it's resolve. It's the moxie to create a new climate. It's the generosity to leverage what we have so that others can have more. It's the poise to remember that when others go low, we must go high. So let us rise together – because higher ground is where justice grows. 

And as we climb upward, we remember that we serve not ourselves but something far bigger. Our work is a relay race to be won across the generations. So let us plant seeds today for a better tomorrow, even if we may never enjoy the full harvest.

On this day of introspection, we remember that the fight for justice demands our best. So let us do right and fear not. Let us find higher ground. And let us embrace all of our work, from root to fruit.

Because, my friends, those roots will take hold. Those trees of justice will soon grow. And in time, those fruits will nourish us as we reach even higher.