Mfume urges audience to keep King’s dream alive

America, at its best, is compassionate, said Kweisi Mfume — but it cannot be tolerated at its… America, at its best, is compassionate, said Kweisi Mfume — but it cannot be tolerated at its worst.

Mfume, the outgoing CEO and executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, visited campus to deliver a lecture on Martin Luther King Jr., challenging his audience to keep King’s dream alive, not only by commemorating his ideals but by picking up the torch and taking action.

The Black Action Society, in collaboration with Alpha Phi Alpha, sponsored the event Tuesday in celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. BAS also presented Mfume with a plaque signifying honorary membership to the organization.

Lauren Evette Williams, president of BAS, said that when selecting a speaker, the organization looked for someone whose greatness matched that of King. In addition to his NAACP duties, Mfume has held a seat in Congress and acted as head of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Mfume said he thinks King’s dream — in his words, alleviating disparity and working for justice — is still shining and powerful in today’s world, but he reminded the audience that there is a long way to go before it is fully realized.

“We have by no means achieved perfect harmony,” he said after audience members had joined hands and introduced themselves to neighbors as Mfume had requested.

Mfume addressed the American problem of apathy as a major point during his lecture, and he spoke of the problems that afflicted society — unemployment, drug addiction, disease, illiteracy and homelessness.

“There is a difference between the people who have and [the] people who have not,” he said. “These differences produce anger, tension and frustration.”

Mfume encouraged the audience to “run faster or forever remain behind” when taking on the challenges of the community. “The students working for BAS are running faster,” he added.

Dilinus Harris, the Community Outreach Program coordinator at Pitt, helped to bring Mfume here. Harris, who is involved in SGB, BAS and the Rainbow Alliance, said that he liked how Mfume took the issues beyond race by discussing them in terms of class.

Sara Fatell, the political action chair of the Rainbow Alliance and a Pitt sophomore, said Mfume’s message to rise to the challenges of the community was the most meaningful to her.

“It really puts into perspective all the work that I do as an activist and what good it is really doing,” she said.