January 15 is one day when we are called to pause and celebrate all that the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. meant to shaping the United States. The Detroit Mercy Office of Diversity, 
Equity and Inclusion shared a range of on and off campus events, which are included in this newsletter, when we can come together collectively to engage in racial healing. Doing so animates the College of Liberal Arts & Education’s (CLAE) commitments to radical hospitality as a practice premised on embracing our rich diversities to build communities of belonging.
Dr. King advanced a vision of the beloved community that encompassed the globe. All peoples would live in peace and share the wealth of the earth. Homelessness and hunger, discrimination and bigotry would disappear as love and trust triumph over fear and hatred. This vision is difficult to embrace as the wars in Gaza, Ukraine and South Sudan continue, intensive polarization drives people in the US ever further apart, and there were 656 mass shootings in the United States in 2023.
This is just the time to remember Dr. King and all those who joined in the Civil Rights movement to be the change that they wanted to see in the world. Today, the City of Detroit Reparations Task Force is developing recommendations for economic and housing programs to address the historic discrimination against the African American community in Detroit. This is but one of many powerful examples of meaningful efforts for change across our metropolitan area. I invite our CLAE community to pause, reflect and remember as we continue to advance our College’s and the University’s commitments to social justice and diversity.