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Tutu’s daughter delivers MLK keynote address
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An overflow crowd from all over the valley packed the
SUB’s Jordan Ballroom to hear the Martin Luther King, Jr.
Human Rights Week’s keynote speaker Nontombi Naomi Tutu
– daughter of famed Archbishop Desmond Tutu. A nurturer
to refugees, founder of the Tutu Foundation and renowned activist,
Naomi educated locals on the importance of honesty when dealing
with racial differences.
The event began with a performance by the St. Paul’s
Baptist Church Children’s Choir. Also, local elementary
students read winning essays entitled, “How I Can Make a
Difference: Today, Tomorrow, Forever.”
“‘The truth shall set you free is a very true
statement,’” Tutu said in her speech, ‘Striving
for Justice: Searching for Common Ground.’ Tutu declared
that by openly acknowledging differences, people are enabled to
freely enjoy the similarities. Tutu phrased America’s
suppressed prejudice as “internalized racism” and
declared that by speaking freely and respectfully about superficial
diversities, Americans will then learn to embrace what lies beneath
the skin.
MLK Week Coordinator Justin Terry was most moved by a story Tutu
shared which revealed the universality of
racism. Naomi’s father, a former archbishop of South
Africa and trailblazer to racial freedom, went to board a plane
operated by black people for the first time. Right before take
off, he questioned the capability of his own race to fly a plane.
Terry explained, “The message of her father was so moving.
The fact that no matter how pure [a] heart is, people second guess
themselves…[Naomi’s father] was a leader of the black
community and terminating apartheid, but even he himself had a seed
of racism in him because it was implanted so deep in his
heart. And it works the same in our country, seeing a Native
American scientist or a Chinese rock star, it’s interesting
to see that. Because of stereotypes we have really deep seeds [of
racism] and we don’t even notice the real people around
us…We are complex people in a complex society in a complex world
and I think that [story] was so moving. It just brought out
the fact that racism is a seed in all of us.”
Tutu addressed South Africa’s current racial status by
claiming that in twenty years, it will be “better than
America’s,” simply because the nation was formerly
under apartheid and now the citizens are able to be open and
expressive about their differences, thus exploring shared ground.
Tutu finished her address with the bold and encouraging
exhortation, “Be willing to speak and hear the truth because
then we will have our just society.” Following her
speech, Tutu participated in a fifteen-minute question and answer
session in which she addressed the U.S. government’s
involvement in foreign racism policies (which she felt were a
disappointment) and gave further encouragement to the
audience’s ability to teach themselves to be more accepting
people. Tutu also said that it was because of her father’s
great influence that she was raised with the awareness that
differences in people are more than tolerable, that they are to be
respected and are, indeed, the flavor of life.
Boise State freshman Jerad Relk commented afterwards,
“Tutu helped me recognize the importance of speaking the
truth to one another in spite of our differences, not even just
with race, but with everything that separates us.” Relk
was not the only attendant who gained a greater understanding of
the importance of honesty in society. MLK week co-chairperson Terry
recounted, “People started talking about stereotypes and
things that are just really taboo in our societies. But we
did it. We put it out on the table and we talked about it and
tried to make things better.”
Bethany Maile
News Reporter
The Arbiter
