Loyola Marymount University’s annual celebration of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with an annual interfaith prayer will feature activist and criminal justice reform leader Susan Burton. The virtual event will take place on Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022, at 11:30 a.m. The event is hosted by the Office of Black Student Services (OBSS) and LMU Mission and Ministry. Register here.
This year’s celebration is based around King’s famous quote, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”
“We believe that was Dr. King’s vision and it is important to understand that in order to create change and move the world forward, we all must push through the hate with love,” shared Jeff Dolliole, director of OBSS. “OBSS hopes that this event sparks a spring semester of love and joy within the LMU community.”
Burton is the founder A New Way of Life, a nonprofit organization that provides housing and support to formerly incarcerated women, and is renowned as an advocate for restoring basic civil and human rights to those who have been incarcerated. “Our hope is for students to learn how Burton was able to turn her darkness into light,” shared Dolliole. “And how she is using that light to change the lives of others daily, through her work in criminal justice reform by ending mass incarceration,” shared Dolliole.
Burton is the 2010 recipient of the Gleitsman Citizen Activist Award from the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School. In 2015, on the 50th anniversary of Selma-to-Montgomery marches and the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Los Angeles Times named her one of the “18 New Civil Rights Leaders” in the nation. She is the author, with Cari Lynn, of “Becoming Ms. Burton” (New Press).
OBSS invites the LMU community to celebrate Black History Month in February. More details and a full event calendar will be released on Jan. 31. For more information about the Office of Black Student Services, visit their website here.
