Waukesha County Technical College to host online Martin Luther King Jr. program Tuesday, Jan. 19

PEWAUKEE, Wis. (Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021) – Waukesha County Technical College (WCTC) is honoring the important work of activist and influential civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. on Tuesday, Jan. 19, at a special Zoom presentation from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The College’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day event -- which is organized by the WCTC Multicultural Resource Center (MRC) -- is free and open to the public. It will feature writer Clint Smith as keynote speaker.

Smith is a staff writer at The Atlantic, and he has previously received fellowships from New America, the Art for Justice Fund, Cave Canem and the National Science Foundation. His poems, essays and scholarly writings have been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Poetry Magazine among others. He is the author of “Counting Descent,” a collection of poems, which won the 2017 Literary Award for Best Poetry Book from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, and he was a finalist for an NAACP Image Award. His forthcoming nonfiction book, “How the World is Passed,” explores how different sites across the country reckon with, or fail to reckon with, their relationship to the history of slavery.

In his WCTC presentation, Smith will discuss how the history of slavery has shaped the contemporary landscape of inequality, and he will share what he has learned from visits to different historical sites throughout the country.

WCTC has hosted MLK events for students and the community for many years, said Rolando DeLeon, WCTC’s diversity coordinator, and this annual event is an opportunity to continue meaningful conversations about racial justice and equality.

“It is always important to honor the legacy of civil rights champions,” DeLeon said. “Martin Luther King Jr. Day gives us the opportunity to honor the life and achievements of the leader of the civil rights movement. In our current state of increasing intolerance by some toward people of different sexual orientations, races, genders and faiths, it is more important that we rediscover the tools activists like Dr. King leveraged to advance a more expansive and inclusive society.”

WCTC’s MLK presentation is free and open to students, staff and the community; no registration is required. To participate in the online event on Jan. 19 at 11:30 a.m. visit: https://wctc.zoom.us/j/93155253341.