“If we are a truly great nation, how could the truth destroy us? Why would we have to hide from it?” she asked. “Great people acknowledge what they’ve done, and then they work to fix it. What will destroy us are the lies that we maintain.”
“I’m just one 5-foot-5 journalist,” she added, “yet some of the most powerful people in the nation — from the former president to sitting senators to state governors — have sought to discredit this work.”
She denounced those unwilling to “fight for the policies and laws that Dr. King gave his life securing,” saying they have no right to determine how to best honor his legacy. Hannah-Jones also warned that U.S. democracy is on the brink of being destroyed.
“We cannot be here talking about dreams and service and singing kumbaya,” she said. “We are in danger of losing the very democracy that Dr. King gave his life for.”
While Hannah-Jones acknowledged that King did long for a day when his children would be judged by their character, he also understood this could not come without a “radical restructuring of our society.”
“The real Dr. King,” she said, “did not pretend that hoping for a colorblind society one day meant ignoring the racial caste system that exists right now.”
Hannah-Jones ended her remarks by reminding the crowd it takes action to make change.
“Dr. King did not sit around and hope for a better day,” she said. “He was determined to bring that day about. He took action.”
“He put himself on the line,” she added. “He did what was not popular but what was right; what was not easy; what was not safe; what was not practical, and really what was not sane — because he lost his life for it.”
She told the crowd it’s not enough simply to hope.
“We must act,” she said. “We have more power than we believe that we do, and we squander it in this moment. Our democracy is on the brink.”
“The speaker was paid $55,000, consistent with past speakers for this event, from private funding sources; no public funds were used,” spokesperson Meredith McGlone told The College Fix via email.
The public university’s Student Affairs and its diversity office hosted the event in the student union. People who want to watch her speech again will have trouble doing so due to press and recording restrictions.
“Sharing or recording of the broadcast is strictly prohibited,” the university said in an email to participants. The only way to watch the $55,000 speech was to attend in person or watch the livestream.
Hannah-Jones is the author of the “1619 Project,” a widely criticized New York Timesinitiative which claimed the first American settlers wanted a new country to protect slavery. Hannah-Jones has also said that the American Revolution was fought to preserve slavery. The project has warranted criticism from Republican lawmakers who see the teaching of it in schools as divisive.
The symposium began with a performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” a song acknowledged by the event’s presenters as the “Black National Anthem.”