The struggle continues

I thought that, this coming week, we might try a different format. Instead of a head-to-head debate, Groups 2 and 4 will each present a 10-minute response to the question below (based upon the readings), then take questions from the audience, and then the two teams will work together to synthesize both of their arguments as well as the new ideas generated by the questions and discussion.

The readings are Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” and Cornel West’s “The New Cultural Politics of Difference.” The question is this:

If we imagine the struggle for social justice today to be a continuation of the struggle undertaken during the 50s and 60s by what Dr. Vincent Harding called the Black-Led Southern Movement for the Expansion of Democracy, then how should we — as a social justice community on a college campus — bring that struggle to DU? What should our goals be? And how can we realize them? 

I encourage the teams to think big. As Dr. Harding pointed out, the struggle for social justice isn’t about merely reforming what’s wrong; it’s about creating a new world. Our agenda for DU should be likewise imaginative, ambitious, and transformative. So, as always, don't feel limited by the readings; instead, use them to generate ideas of your own.

Speaking of the readings: they're on Blackboard, in the Content folder.