April 5, 2011 - 2:07pm
Event preview: Sustainable Action for the Twenty-First Century
BY JACOB AXELRAD
Marking the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s historic 1967 antiwar speech, “A Time to Break Silence,” a forum in King’s honor will be held today in Auditorium 3 of the Modern Language Building, featuring the work of longtime political philosopher Grace Lee Boggs and University History Prof. Scott Kurashige. The event will include guest activists and historians, including actor and humanitarian Danny Glover (“Lethal Weapon”).
At the age of 95, Boggs holds strong beliefs in the persistence of group action to overcome problems, both domestic and abroad. In her new book, “The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century,” for which Mr. Glover wrote the forward, she stresses a reawakening of social and political thought in order to confront a rapidly changing world. Due to strong ties with Detroit, University involvement in the city, especially that of students, stands as a touchstone example of the renewed awareness she calls for in her book.
“I think the University has played a vital role in encouraging students to be bold and thoughtful and active,” Boggs said in an interview with The Michigan Daily. “Being only a few miles from Detroit, students need to think creatively in terms of urban reconstruction.”
No stranger to radical change, Boggs participated in the Civil Rights Movement before marrying fellow political activist James Boggs and settling in Detroit, which would become the focus of her reform-oriented agenda. In 1995, she and her husband helped found the Boggs Center in Detroit to confront new challenges of the 21st century at a local and national level.
Today’s event unites widely recognized figures and members of the University with the goal of fostering discussion among the student body, similar to the type among previous generations of activists like Boggs and Glover. But according to Boggs, real change rests with the next generation. Events from the ’60s can only serve as a template for contemporary activism.
“It’s that time on the clock of the world when we have to ask ourselves ‘How do we make the next American Revolution and what’s it going to be about?’ ” Boggs said. “Today, we know that world patterns have to be reversed by a new American Revolution, and the proximity between Detroit and the University is a great opportunity for activism."
American Culture Prof. Stephen Ward, who will serve as event moderator, said he views the forum as an opportunity to teach and, perhaps, empower students to take the necessary steps to begin their own path toward social change. Ward established the University’s Semester in Detroit Program and feels the exposure of students to people like Boggs and Glover is essential in cultivating an understanding of a city in need of grassroots involvement.
“We’re trying to expose students to people like Grace (Boggs) and allow them to see themselves as part of progressive change,” Ward said.
Additionally, Ward said he hopes students will come to see Boggs's work not only in a historical perspective, but also as a means to think about how to keep up with the changing times — cities themselves are constantly transforming, and an ability to understand the role we play in them is crucial to today’s student population.
In his forward to the book Glover states that, “each generation is defined by the history it makes.” For Boggs, recent college graduates will create their own history, starting with the education they receive here at the University.
“Students can tend to view education in a very individualist manner,” she said. “I’m proposing a challenge to students to develop new ideas that are required to face the issues we now face.”
