The keynote speaker at the University of Michigan’s 2025 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium had a clear message for modern activists seeking to sustain King’s fight against systemic inequities.
“Get on with it. Don’t overthink it,” said Erika Alexander, actress, director, producer — and an activist herself. “And young activists, do you know what? Suck it up, man. Life is disappointing, but don’t get discouraged. And don’t stop just because you did one thing.”
The MLK Symposium kicked off Jan. 20 with the keynote lecture, a conversation between Alexander and Daphne C. Watkins, a University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor, and the Letha A. Chadiha Collegiate Professor of Social Work and professor of social work in the School of Social Work.
The opening event took place at Hill Auditorium and was livestreamed.
Now in its 39th year, U-M’s MLK Symposium celebrates King’s life and legacy. In addition to the keynote discussion, this year’s theme, “Restless Dissatisfaction: An Urgent Call for the Pursuit of Justice and Equality,” will be explored by departments and units across campus in more than 25 events and activities.
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The symposium’s 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.
The keynote was co-sponsored by Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives under the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, with support from the William K. McInally Memorial Lecture Fund.
“Dr. King’s words compel us to confront injustice in all its forms — racial, economic and social — and to bridge the gap between the world as it is and the world as it should be,” Tabbye Chavous, chief diversity officer and vice provost for equity and inclusion, said in her welcoming remarks.
“Progress, he reminds us, requires continuous effort, courage and vigilance. Your presence this morning in person or virtually is an act of this commitment and reaffirms shared dedication to advancing justice, equity and inclusion.”
Laurie McCauley, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, also urged attendees to maintain King’s restless spirit.
“Our country has made great strides from the time when young Black students were met with violence for simply trying to attend school with their white peers. And yet we have ample daily reminders that racism and inequality still infect our society,” McCauley said.
“From prejudicial attitudes to systems that continue to injure people of color and people who are perceived as different. The struggle for the harmonious civilization Dr. King envisioned must continue.”
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.”
Alexander is a board member for the nonprofit group One Fair Wage and is involved with social and racial justice organizations, including The Poor People’s Campaign, Color of Change, the NAACP and the United Negro College Fund.
Alexander and Watkins discussed the importance of community, how marginalized people cope when faced with opposition, and the power of storytelling to drive social change.
In reflecting on how a strong community positively affected her as a young Black woman, Alexander shared that she’d spent most of her childhood in Flagstaff, Arizona, where she and her siblings relied heavily on their community for support, especially when their mother and father, who was a preacher, traveled for work.
“I spent my whole life living what Tennessee Williams calls … ‘by the kindness of strangers,’” Alexander said.
Her family leaned on a range of diverse neighbors who lived nearby, including members of the Navajo and Hopi tribes and Mexican and German Lutheran communities.
“Growing up, I thought of all of them as my community,” Alexander said. “And that is not just my story. It’s not unique to me. It’s a very Black American story to feel like you … maybe don’t have consistent family to depend on. … But if it were not for that beloved community, then I don’t think I would be where I am right now.”
Discussing her own coping strategy when faced with obstacles, Alexander said that, as a woman of color, she’s learned to adapt and develop a wide range of skills.
“I’m a shape shifter, and if you are a marginalized person you’d better become one. You have to learn a lot of skill sets to get the things you want done. I’m not an anomaly. That is just what it is,” she said.
Finally, to illustrate the power of storytelling, Alexander pointed to what she called the “Maxine Shaw effect,” a reference to the enduring influence of Maxine Shaw, a strong, independent character Alexander portrayed on the television show “Living Single” in the 1990s.
Although the show ended nearly 30 years ago, syndication has kept Maxine alive, and Alexander said she has been told repeatedly that Maxine, who was a lawyer on the show, helped inspire young women and men of color to pursue law school or other higher education.
As a result, Alexander, in partnership with corporate and nonprofit partners, has created an educational curriculum that she hopes will build upon the appeal of Maxine and motivate a new generation of leaders.
The symposium concluded with Cherise Morris, a writer, interdisciplinary artist and ritualist, who performed, along with three collaborators, an interpretation of writings from her forthcoming book, “the cosmic matter of Black lives.”
