On Jan. 20th, the Boston Pan-African Forum and Center for African, Caribbean & Community Development held their 17th Annual Amilcar Cabral & Martin Luther King Jr. commemorative program at the University of Massachusetts Boston in the Ryan Lounge. The theme of the conference was “Unity within the Diaspora.”
Throughout the conference, different speakers spoke about the life of Martin Luther King Jr. and his vision for a people oriented society. “Dr. King was against imperialism and individualism,” said Professor Anthony Van Der Meer. He explained that Dr. King’s vision was to create a society where everyone would have access to equality with decency regardless of their class, gender and race- white or black.
“Today, [African Americans] can still be black nationalists and this should not take our internationalism,” Van Der Meer continued, explaining that whenever there is misfortune to another fellow human, whether it is murder in Iraq, Syria, Libya, everyone–black or white–should be concerned. “This was Dr. King’s sense of humanity,” Van Der Meer said, and he restated Dr. King’s quote that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Dr. King was someone who wanted peace and racial and social equality among all. “As human beings we should all be able to recognize the humanity in the world,” added Van Der Meer. “It is a question of recognizing the bond between humanity and unity.”
Amilcar Cabral was also mentioned by different speakers as someone who wanted to change and liberate not only Cape Verde but also the African continent as a whole. Cabral was someone who was dedicated to the service of his country, “I swear that I will give my life, all my energy and all my courage, all the capacity that I have… until the day that I die, to the service of my people, … and to the service of the cause of humanity,” he once said. Cabral had the vision for self-empowerment, self-reliance, and betterment of the human race.
“We are still looking for change, all of us, whether we are Africans in the continent of Africa, or African American in the Diaspora,” said Candidate Rose. “We must continue the legacy of both Dr. King and Cabral for change,” she added.
UMass Boston also hosted the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service in which the UMass Boston community members engaged in community service projects around the greater Boston area.