Yohuru Williams, history professor and founding director of the Racial Justice Initiative at the University of St. Thomas, joined WCCO Radio on air following the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Breakfast to talk about Dr. King’s legacy and the contemporary efforts to advance racial justice.
From the interview:
Host: “In these moments when we’re at least questioning these policies that have been put in place to make Americans equal, that that is a sign of progress - am I foolish in saying that?”
Williams: “No, I think you’re hopeful and optimistic. And I think that’s where we need to be in a lot of ways. I think part of the challenge in our contemporary moment is recognizing that we have these moments of progress that are then tempered by backlash. And so, when we find ourselves in moments like today when there’s this tremendous pushback, we sometimes lose sight of the fact that we’re further along today than we were 10 years ago. But we have to be vigilant so that we don’t lose ground as part of that backlash, as part of that pushback.”
