Actress, director, producer and activist Erika Alexander will be the featured speaker at the 2025 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium Keynote Memorial Lecture on Jan. 20.
Alexander will participate in a 90-minute moderated conversation at 9:30 a.m. at Hill Auditorium that also will be live-streamed.
The annual symposium, which honors the legacy of the late civil rights leader, will explore the theme of “Restless Dissatisfaction: An Urgent Call for the Pursuit of Justice and Equality.”
This call to action was inspired by King’s remarks while accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and in his “Where Do We Go from Here” speech delivered at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1967.
In the former, King implored people to sustain a feeling of “divine discontent” that prohibits them from settling for unmet goals. In the latter, he tasked Americans with embracing “divine dissatisfaction” until inequity among people has ceased.
“Restless dissatisfaction encourages us to confront injustice in all its forms, racial, economic and social, and compels us to close the gap between the world as it is and the world as it should be,” Tabbye Chavous, chief diversity officer and vice provost of equity and inclusion, wrote in an email to the U-M community.
“Dr. King’s words serve as a powerful reminder that progress requires constant effort and vigilance.”
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Alexander has appeared in numerous films and television series, including as Maxine Shaw in “Living Single,” which earned her two NAACP Image Awards; as Detective Latoya in the movie “Get Out”; and as Meredith Lockhart in “Swimming with Sharks.”
She also co-directed the film “The Big Payback,” which premiered on PBS on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2023, and she co-produced the Emmy-nominated documentary “John Lewis: Good Trouble.”
“Erika Alexander embodies the restless dissatisfaction that Dr. King championed,” said Brendan Kirwin, assistant director of marketing and communication for the Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives and co-chair of the 2025 MLK symposium. “Working in front of and behind the camera, she has continually expanded her impact in the entertainment industry as a storyteller and advocate for more diverse representation in media.
“She is also highly involved in the very same social and racial justice organizations that King aligned with, such as the Poor People’s Campaign and the NAACP. Alexander continues King’s mission, striving to close the gap between the world as it is and the world as it should be.”
The keynote lecture is co-sponsored by OAMI under the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, and by the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, with support from the William K. McInally Memorial Lecture Fund.
As part of the annual U-M initiative to honor King, departments and units across campus also will host activities to foster the review of “restless dissatisfaction.” Departments that would like their events included on the MLK symposium’s website can submit the event information online.
