By David L. Chandler

MIT’s 49th annual Celebration of the Life and Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. took place Wednesday before an overflow crowd at Morss Hall and featured activist and author Angela Y. Davis as its keynote speaker. The celebration luncheon was the lead event in a week of activities honoring the civil rights leader, and its theme was: “Let us uphold theflame for fairness and justice. There’s a certain kind of fire that must not be extinguished.”

In her address, Davis said, “Each year we witness ever more compelling evidence of why we should not only celebrate Martin Luther King — and, I should add, the radical movement for which he served as spokesperson — but also why we need to renew our commitments to struggle against racism, materialism, and militarism.”

“This is a time to reflect deeply on the long struggle for liberation that has already spanned multiple centuries,” she said. “It is also a time to reflect on how we might accelerate that struggle in order to guarantee that those who have been denied entrance into the circle of freedom might not only be admitted, but by recognizing their struggles, their collective multigenerational vision, it might be possible to reimagine future worlds — radical democratic futures for all beings who inhabit this planet.”