An educator who travels the country leading tough conversations about race is speaking Tuesday evening in Tacoma. Eddie Moore Jr. travels the country leading tough conversations about race. His talk tonight is titled “Dr. Martin Luther King: Why Keep Dreaming?”
It’s been nearly 55 years since King delivered the “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington, D.C.
Moore says we need to take stock in whether society is carrying out King’s dream, and what people are doing individually to help the dream come true.
“It’s really a critical time this next decade for us to be considering even how we’re in our own personal lives taking time to acknowledge and recognize the time in which Dr. King was delivering this speech and what was going on, and where we are as far as the changes, the progress, and where we want to go,” he said.
During his presentation at 7 p.m. Tuesday on the campus of University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Moore says he’ll ask people tonight whether society is living up to King’s dream of a just and equal society and what they’re doing to make it come true.
Moore is best known for beginning and leading the White Privilege Conference 18 years ago, which has since become The Privilege Institute.
He says when that work began, there were a lot of misunderstandings over the idea of “white privilege.”
“What’s most misunderstood is that that term is about demonizing and demeaning white people,” Moore said.
It's not, he says. Instead, it's about recognizing white privilege – how it’s used for ill, and how it can also be wielded for good, to promote equality and justice. That understanding can take time.
“And what I have to come to grips with is the work I’m doing in the classroom, wherever that is, however that is, may not bear fruit, and even if it does I may not know five years, 10 years from now,” he said.
Moore’s presentation is at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Kilworth Memorial Chapel at University of Puget Sound. It’s free and open to the public.
