MLK-Day at Exeter: A Critique

By ANDREW BOOVA ‘26

At 9:15 a.m., Dr. Tricia Rose began her keynote speech to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day (MLK Day). The celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and work quickly turned into quite the opposite. She told the student body that it “pisses me off” that conservatives are supposedly twisting his words, rather than correctly interpreting them, to oppose the redress of systemic racism and implementation of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). This thinking is directly in line with many current critical race theorists, most prominently Ibram X. Kendi and Robin DiAngelo. (Kendi was featured later in the Exeter workshops and he spoke at Exeter in 2020 on MLK Day). These thinkers both advocate for a “color-seeing” society, where everyone’s racial and ethnic identities are at the forefront of who they are. This idea is wholly antithetical to those that MLK espoused while he marched, preached, spoke, went to jail, and died for equality. In addition to the keynote, we also chose a workshop to participate in, generally in line with these activists’ thinking. Teaching the  anti-MLK perspectives of Kendi and DiAngelo at Exeter on MLK day undermines the ideas of MLK and undercuts the real work and progress against racism and discrimination.

Kendi generally stays away from speaking about MLK. He claims that in the name of progress, we must employ new radical ideas in order to finally achieve equity. His book, “How to be an Antiracist”  includes three important quotes.

“The defining question is whether the discrimination is creating equity or inequity. If discrimination is creating equity, then it is anti racist. If discrimination is creating inequity, then it is racist.” (Page 9) In other words, if one racial group does better in any aspect than another, it must be because of racism. He also explicitly endorses discrimination on the basis of race to create equity, meaning equality of outcome. He disregards the impact of one’s agency, culture, or any other factor leading to inequity. In English class, we were taught that if an environmental factor disproportionately affects “racialized communities,” then racism is to blame. The centering of race in policy-making contradicts the race-blind view of MLK.

“The most threatening racist movement is not the alt right’s drive for a White ethnostate but the regular American’s drive for a ‘race-neutral’ one” (Page 14). Again, he is calling for a race-focused view of policy-making. Five years ago, Kendi proposed a constitutional amendment that would basically enforce racial equity, rather than equality, which means equal opportunity. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 which MLK fought so hard for explicitly prohibits discrimination based on race. The 14th Amendment also requires laws to treat all citizens equally. Kendi sounds akin to those who protested against Dr. King in the 1950s.

“What if we realized the best way to ensure an effective educational system is by standardizing the opportunities available to all students?” (Page 104) Once again, Kendi contradicts himself. Here, he is talking about equality. In the first quote, he says racial groups should be guaranteed equal outcomes, or equity. This is a form of racial neo-Marxism. According to Kendi, it’s desirable to discriminate to produce equal outcomes, which by definition, eliminates equality of opportunity. When breaking down outcomes by racial groups, his logic falls apart. In 2018, Median Nigerian American household income was 65% greater than the overall African American median, and was about even with the European-American median (Yahoo Finance, 2019). This statistic suggests that race is not a major driver of inequity. These race-centric views should be critically examined and not presented as the only ideas at Exeter, especially while commemorating MLK, who argued for never using race as a basis for discrimination.

Similarly, Robin DiAngelo has notable quotes in her book “White Fragility,” and also a webinar she gave in March 2023. In the webinar, she said, “People of color need to get away from White people and have some community with each other.” This quote implies that the only valuable characteristic of someone is their race, and Black people should therefore avoid 71 percent of Americans.

“White fragility functions as a form of bullying; I am going to make it so miserable for you to confront me—no matter how diplomatically you try to do so—that you will simply back off, give up, and never raise the issue again” (Page 73, White Fragility). According to DiAngelo, not wanting to be told you are a racist for simply being White is “a form of bullying,” and white people are being fragile as her book title suggests. If anything, calling people racist that you know nothing about is bullying.

“Racism is a structure, not an event” (Page 12). DiAngelo believes individual actions aren’t racist. Racism is all societal and structural. She is effectively claiming that if any Black person is harmed, it is the fault of the racially privileged – White people – for upholding the current systems. Dr. Rose also asserted in her speech that MLK was an early example of a systems-based thinker. This concerted effort to remove accountability works against MLK, who in 1957 said “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” If one blames solely the system and never takes responsibility for their own actions, we will never make progress.

At Exeter, we were able to choose a workshop in which to participate. There are three that I would like to highlight. The first is “Whiting out Black Joy: A workshop exploring how whiteness forecloses black joy and resistance.” Imagine a workshop called “Blacking out White Joy,” or any other non-White race for that matter. That would be racist. Arguing that the inherent tendencies of all White people are oppressive towards Black people rather than historical laws or actions is racist and it was wrong for the Academy to teach this to students. Teaching that the 54 percent of Exonians who are White have oppressive tendencies on the memorial of MLK is morally corrupt.

The second workshop was “The Revolution’s Promise: Crafting Testimonial Monologues about Pain, Joy, and Resistance.” According to the description, much of the focus was on Palestinian liberation under Israeli occupation since the 1960s. In a private letter in 1967, MLK said “I would have made it crystal clear that I could not have supported any resolution calling for Black separatism or calling for a condemnation of Israel.” In the same letter, he said “Israel’s right to exist as a state is incontestable.” Because of the anti-Israel sentiment at Exeter, the Jewish support for MLK goes completely unheard. Before MLK delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel gave a speech about the Jewish support for MLK and racial equality in the United States. Jews faced many of the same social and legal challenges as Black people in the 1950s and 1960s, so for there to not be any workshop on Jewish allyship but a workshop on Palestinian liberation from the only Jewish state was misguided. Although the cancellation of the Black-Palestinian solidarity workshop was appreciated by many, a better solution would have been to add an additional workshop with an alternative viewpoint. Because the workshops are proposed by students/faculty, there is a liberal skew to the programming, which the administration must think critically about how to fix.

The final workshop is one which I believe all of MLK Day should be modeled after. It was called “The Strength of a Seed - The Influence of Dr. Martin Luther King.” According to the description, this workshop focused on how MLK inspired others to join the cause for equal rights, and the significant positive impact his work had on the lives of Black people. This was one of only a few workshops that directly talked about the impact of MLK. On MLK day, we should celebrate his vision of authentic anti-racism. Workshops like these are vital in reducing racial differences at Exeter so we can treat each other as equals. There should also be a mandatory session after the keynote where a student or faculty member reads one important work by MLK such as the “I Have a Dream” speech or “Letter from Birmingham Jail” to the school. There is no better way to understand and emulate MLK than listening directly to his words.

MLK was a strong advocate for the elimination of racial discrimination. Authors like Kendi, DiAngelo, and some at Exeter seem to be advocating the opposite. We are being taught race essentialism: to see race before anything else and view all interaction through a racial lens. I am currently in the middle of my lower winter term, when English class is focused on race and identity. We are implicitly taught that natives were only killed due to their skin tone, rather than political or economic factors. We begin every class by writing reflections on almost all race-ethinicity focused words, such as genocide, colonial oppression, and discrimination. As John McWhorter wrote in his book “Woke Racism”: “Whites must be held at metaphorical gunpoint and demanded to do ‘the work’ of becoming ‘anti-racist’ in their every waking moment and to despise themselves for lapses in doing so, despite that it is a work they are condemned never to finish. This is performance art” (148). The implicit and explicit calumniation of White Exonians as racist promotes divisiveness rather than creating a harmonious learning environment. If we at Exeter actually read MLK’s speeches and letters, we might glean an understanding of his work and effectively apply his ideals in the classroom. In his famous “I Have a Dream’’ speech, he says “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Vilifying “whiteness,” White people, or anyone else based on their skin color has no basis in MLK’s thinking and, in fact, contradicts him. Immutable characteristics are not what should be judged. No one chooses to be born as White or Black, man or woman, or tall or short. As individuals, we must consciously endeavor to treat people based on character, not color, and MLK understood that better than anyone. The Exeter MLK Day celebration must be rethought in order to effectively commemorate MLK.