Cheri Beasley calls for ‘connection’ in MLK Jr. Lecture
The former state Supreme Court chief justice spoke at the 45th annual ceremony, which also featured performances and awards.
For the 45th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Lecture and Awards ceremony, keynote speaker Cheri Beasley addressed why this year’s theme was “Cultivating Connection and Creating Change.”
“We must have connection across race, across class, and we must have connection across ideology and generations. Dr. King said the beloved community is a disciplined commitment to live better and to strive for a just society,” Beasley said to the Memorial Hall audience at the Jan. 20 event.
Beasley, the former chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, spoke to the continued struggles of the Black community and how that community must continue to rely on the strength of love to face today’s challenges.
“The love Dr. King was talking about wasn’t easy,” Beasley said. “It wasn’t easy then, and it isn’t easy now. But we were not built for easy. We were built for better than that, so the call today is to modernize [Dr. King’s] dream without losing its soul.”
The annual event was part of the MLK Jr. Week of Celebration at Carolina, which continues Jan. 22 with the Community Forum at the Frank Porter Graham Student Union from 6:30 to 8 p.m. The celebration is led by a student committee in conjunction with Student Wellness.
James Orr, senior vice provost for student success, further emphasized this year’s theme.
“At Carolina, cultivating connections means showing up for one another, listening, building and understanding across differences and recognizing that meaningful change often starts with small early actions,” Orr said.
Awards and performances
Several members of the Carolina community received awards at the event.
Chrystal Starbird and Natasha Young were named Unsung Heroes as community collaborators who foster a welcoming and inclusive community at Carolina through their everyday work and advocacy.
Starbird graduated from Carolina with a biology degree before completing graduate and postdoctoral work at Vanderbilt University and Yale University. She is a faculty member in the UNC School of Medicine’s biochemistry and biophysics department.
Young graduated from Keene State College in 2016 with a dual degree in studio art and sociology before receiving a master’s in student affairs in higher education from Miami University. As Carolina’s assistant director for leadership development in Student Life and Leadership, she oversees the Tar Heels Vote! initiative and the SPARK leadership program.
The Harvey Beech Scholarship, named for the first African American to graduate from the UNC School of Law, was awarded to juniors Addison Truzy and Chloe Coleman, first-year graduate student Emily Phan ’25 and second-year doctoral student Hana Daher Lopes.
Johna T. Speller and Hannah Hayes received the MLK Jr. Scholarship. Speller is a junior Honors Carolina student double-majoring in political science and organizational leadership development. She has served as the vice president of membership for North Carolina Future Business Leaders of America Collegiate and a research mentor for the Descendants Project. Hayes is a sophomore Morehead-Cain scholar majoring in political science. She is an attorney for the Mock Trial student organization and is a member of the community outreach team, Students Demand Action.
The night featured three performances, including first-year student Julissa Bell’s piano rendition of Andra Day’s “Rise Up.” Sophomore Christopher Yancey performed his poem “There Comes a Time.” Matthew Taylor closed the ceremony with a spoken-word poem he wrote specifically for the event, inspired by King’s last published book, “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?”
“Dr. King did not ask us to be comfortable. He asked us to be brave,” Student Body President Adolfo Alvarez said. “May we have courage in this moment to demand the freedom that Dr. King believed in.”
View more photos from the events below and click to enlarge.
