Is the dream fulfilled?
Local pastor will lecture on MLK today in the library
By: Alisea Briggs
Issue date: 1/28/09 Section: News
With the country buzzing after President Barack Obama's inauguration, many political analysts are asking, "Is the dream fulfilled?"
The Rev. Kenneth Robinson, pastor of a local church, will try and answer this question when he speaks today at noon in room 226 of the Ned R. McWherter Library.
The library will host the event, which is free and open to the public, said Tom Mendina, coordinator of public programming and assistant to the dean of University Libraries.
"This is the month of Martin Luther King's birthday," he said. "I wanted to do something from the library to show our support."
Robinson pastors the St. Andrew African Methodist Episcopal Church here in Memphis. He received a bachelor of arts and a medical degree from Harvard University, and a master of divinity degree from Vanderbilt University. But it's his life experiences that should shine through in his speech, Mendina said.
"Robinson's well known to The University," he said. "Myself, along with several others affiliated with the library, have heard him speak and think he's excellent."
Faculty aren't the only ones who think highly of Robinson. Cortney Richardson, student and member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Black Student Association and Empowered Men of Color, thinks students should take what Robinson has to say seriously.
"We have a preacher who has proven himself and can walk in the shadows of Dr. King," he said. "Because of his experiences, he understands the struggles of Dr. King."
As a child, Robinson was in one of the first integrated classrooms in the Nashville city school system.
Since then, he has set many precedents. During his freshman year at Harvard in 1971, President Nixon appointed Robinson to the Presidential Committee on Mental Retardation. At that time, he was the youngest federal commissioner appointed by a president.
Robinson made history a second time when he was appointed to the governor's cabinet as the first black commissioner of health in Tennessee.
"Given Pastor Robinson's diverse background, I thought it would be interesting to hear him speak on today's world and how it relates to Dr. King," Mendina said. "I'm waiting to be enlightened by him just like everyone else."
The Rev. Kenneth Robinson, pastor of a local church, will try and answer this question when he speaks today at noon in room 226 of the Ned R. McWherter Library.
The library will host the event, which is free and open to the public, said Tom Mendina, coordinator of public programming and assistant to the dean of University Libraries.
"This is the month of Martin Luther King's birthday," he said. "I wanted to do something from the library to show our support."
Robinson pastors the St. Andrew African Methodist Episcopal Church here in Memphis. He received a bachelor of arts and a medical degree from Harvard University, and a master of divinity degree from Vanderbilt University. But it's his life experiences that should shine through in his speech, Mendina said.
"Robinson's well known to The University," he said. "Myself, along with several others affiliated with the library, have heard him speak and think he's excellent."
Faculty aren't the only ones who think highly of Robinson. Cortney Richardson, student and member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Black Student Association and Empowered Men of Color, thinks students should take what Robinson has to say seriously.
"We have a preacher who has proven himself and can walk in the shadows of Dr. King," he said. "Because of his experiences, he understands the struggles of Dr. King."
As a child, Robinson was in one of the first integrated classrooms in the Nashville city school system.
Since then, he has set many precedents. During his freshman year at Harvard in 1971, President Nixon appointed Robinson to the Presidential Committee on Mental Retardation. At that time, he was the youngest federal commissioner appointed by a president.
Robinson made history a second time when he was appointed to the governor's cabinet as the first black commissioner of health in Tennessee.
"Given Pastor Robinson's diverse background, I thought it would be interesting to hear him speak on today's world and how it relates to Dr. King," Mendina said. "I'm waiting to be enlightened by him just like everyone else."