Africa Initiative to hold forum on King’s legacy April 4

Africa Initiative to hold forum on King’s legacy April 4March 11, 2008Sara Millersemortim@syr.edu

In commemoration of the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr., Syracuse University’s Africa Initiative will co-host an April 4 forum to reflect on his legacy. April 4 will mark the 40th anniversary of King’s assassination in Memphis, Tenn., where he had traveled to work with sanitation workers. Exactly one year earlier, on April 4, 1967, King delivered his historic “Beyond Vietnam” speech. In this speech, he called on the citizens of the United States to avoid spiritual death and to move from a “thing-oriented” society to a “people-oriented” society.

The forum, “Martin Luther King and the Vision of World Peace and Social Justice,” will be held in the Whitman School’s Lender Auditorium at 5 p.m. It is co-sponsored by the African Students Union, the Pan African Community of Central New York, SU’s Department of African American Studies and the Syracuse Peace Council. The forum is free and open to the public, with free parking available in the Waverly and Marion lots.

The principal speaker will be Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Asha-Rose Migiro of Tanzania. Migiro is a lawyer by training and was formerly a professor of law at the University of Dar es Salaam. She took office as deputy secretary-general of the U.N. on Feb. 1, 2007, becoming the third person in that position.

The second distinguished guest speaker will be Walter Robinson Davies, minister of regional development in the government of Costa Rica. Costa Rica is a country dedicated to world peace, with no standing army.

For more information, contact Adnan Ajsic, Africa Initiative, at 443-5965, or aajsic@syr.edu.