Location: dartgo.org/mayawiley

Maya Wiley ’86, NBC & MSNBC legal analyst and former NYC mayoral candidate, delivers The Rockefeller Center's MLK address.

James Baldwin said, “You cannot fix what you will not face.” Hate, lies about voter fraud,and deepening divisions in our democracy are reminiscent of the fundamental question about our willingness to form a more perfect union. This is what we must face. There is a large minority of Americans who are White and feel rage in response to the long road to racial justice and a democracy that opens its arms to the changing complexion of a nation built on racism and exclusion. That rage has blinded too many to facts at the peril of our union. As John Lewis said, “Democracy is an act and that act now requires truth-telling”. Thesimple truth is that even in our tremendous progress on racial justice, we have never come to grips with or altered the fundamental supremacy we granted whiteness and how that endangers us all. With hope and principled commitment, we must rekindle the radical love and honest confrontation that is the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.