Meagan Falcon
Web Editor
Georgetown University Professor Michael Eric Dyson, Ph.D., visited Del Mar College as part of the college’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. third annual celebration Jan. 29.
Dyson, a New York Times best-selling author, served as special guest at the event, which took place in Richardson Performance Hall on East Campus.
The American Book Award recipient, two-time NAACP Image Award winner and one of the nation’s most influential and renowned public intellectuals discussed the accomplishments and struggles of King. He especially piqued the audience’s interest when discussing how King might respond to recent controversies and the more radical side of King that many seem to forget.
“Martin Luther King Jr. believed in hope … his hopes were deep … and when times were against him he still believed in hope,” Dyson said.
King still had hope in the world that there would be peace and equality even though he was “plagued with depression and having to live with fear of someone trying to murder him every day for just preaching peace,” Dyson said. The man who said, “I have a dream,” is all that we as Americans wish to remember. Dyson eqauted it to a blissful illusion that allows us to forget and hide away the deeper, darker, more depressed, but more powerful King whose voice helped shape America and is the reason we celebrate him today.
Misael Ramirez, a Mexican American studies major at University of Texas-Pan American, traveled two hours from the Rio Grande Valley to see Dyson.
“I love watching his videos and Mr. Dyson is very inspirational,” Ramirez said.
Because of Dyson’s influence, Misael gave a powerful message about self-hating chicanos known as “Brown is Beautiful” on Facebook, which had a powerful response in his college community.
The influence of Dyson’s lecture kept the audience riveted and inspired. However, it was his words about the struggling King that served as a reminder that one man who had a dream gave us all a dream to want to change the world.
