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Martin Luther King Jr. Day: A Day On, Not a Day Off

January 15, 2021

We will honor, on January 18, 2021, the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This holiday has been a national day of service—a “day on, not a day off”—to improve our communities for the past 26 years.

We still feel the weight of how much more there is to be done even 52 years after Dr. King's death. Every day for CNHP is a “day on” because we are passionate about social justice and the minimizations of health disparities and health inequities. CNHP is committed to our students, alumni, faculty and professional staff and have long honored this day through service.

Image with a photo of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and a quote: Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. Dr. King wrote about race relations in a way that was mutually beneficial, writing from the “Letter from Birmingham Jail;” In a real sense all life is inter-related. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the inter-related structure of reality.

His words are especially relevant today: “I have tried to make clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends. In summary there is never the wrong time to do the right thing and to grow from our mistakes."

These tools, Six Steps for Nonviolent Social Change, shared by the King Center resonate with me deeply as a social change agent.

  1. Information gathering.
  2. Education.
  3. Personal commitment.
  4. Negotiation.
  5. Direct action.
  6. Reconciliation.

These tenets are to be reflected in our mission within diversity, equity and inclusion, the course learning objectives and our actions as students, alumni, faculty, professional staff and partners. I must add for a point of reflection: Own your own stuff so that change can occur; I know I do!

Appreciate you as social change agents,

Veronica Carey, PhD
Assistant Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion