As part of Shaw University’s Religious Emphasis Week, over two hundred undergraduates gathered for a forum on the calling to moral leadership and social justice on Tuesday, February 7, at 11 am. Framed in the context of the Locked in Solidarity focus on ending mass incarceration, Dr. Mikael Broadway addressed the group on the question, “Is It Just Too Much?” to rise up and fight against injustice.
Dean Johnny Hill moderated a discussion in which students expressed their aspirations for making a difference in the world, based on their own experiences of seeing injustice in their own lives or the lives of their family or friends. One student made a strong plea for opening up fair access to education for all children, getting them on a path that will not replicate the school-to-prison pipeline. Another student described the misunderstanding and mistreatment of people with mental illness, many of whom become criminalized and incarcerated when they really need medical care and other forms of therapy. She aspires to be a change agent in making better, non-punitive opportunities for those who live with mental illness. Others students gave a variety of responses about their intent to make a difference with their lives, so that the gathering ended with a great deal of hope and encouragement for students, faculty, and administrators to stay in the struggle against a prison society and toward beloved community.
by Mikael Broadway
