Annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Interfaith and Awards Commemoration honors King’s life and work

An integral part of the Symposium on Social Change, the annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Interfaith and Awards Commemoration honors King’s life and work and acknowledges students, faculty, staff, and community members.

In his remarks, Interim President J. Larry Jameson noted that Penn was the first secular university in this country, always embracing every faith. “We bring our faiths together as a way to learn from one another, to be broad in our thinking,” he said, in a nod to the interfaith nature of the evening.

Quoting King, “‘To transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony,’” Jameson said, “This is a time for us to pull together.” Spoken a half-century ago, he said King’s words still resonate today in the way the members of the Penn community support one another across disciplines and supports while engaging the broader community.

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Felix Shondell Jones won the Dr. Judith Rodin Community Education Award for his commitment to community service and civic engagement. A longtime Penn Medicine nurse, Jones has won numerous awards for clinical excellence and compassionate bedside care, volunteers as a community health nurse, and works as a nurse for Philadelphia Prisons and as part of the nonprofit “Re-Claim U,” which motivates community members through cognitive behavioral therapy.

Stephanie Booker, who won the Community Involvement Award, is the CEO and founder of A Home Is a Right, established in 2011 to provide permanent housing for at-risk veterans. The organization has since expanded to become a million-dollar nonprofit, offering mental health resources, furniture, clothing, and food. Booker also rehabilitates homes for low-income, first-time buyers in collaboration with the Philadelphia Housing Authority.

Jack Drummond, who was presented with the Faculty & Staff Award, is the inaugural director of restorative practices at the Perelman School of Medicine, where he focuses on the effectiveness of restorative practices in enhancing psychological safety in workplaces. He is also a faculty fellow at DuBois College House and founder of the West Philadelphia String Music and Mentorship Program.

Makayla Buchanon of the School of Social Policy & Practice won the Graduate Student Award for her scholarly work and community outreach. Buchanon is also a member of the Association of Black Social Workers as well as a graduate resident assistant.

Sade Taiwo, a fourth-year health and societies major from Philadelphia, won the Undergraduate Student Award for her dedication to health equity. She volunteers with Puentes de Salud, an organization that promotes the health of the Latin American community in Philadelphia, and the Shelter Health Outreach Program, and has taken on leadership roles with UMOJA and the Netter Center’s Community Resource Partnership. She serves as co-lead of Monolith: Visual Arts Collective.

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Guest speaker Eddie Glaude Jr., the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor at Princeton University, reflected on the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr., comparing King’s time with the present. Glaude noted that the promise to extend democratic principles to Black people was not an act of charity or an affirmation of virtue but an expression of justice.

“Dr. King’s words take on added significance today,” Glaude said. “King insisted that we resist the demand for conformity. That we stand on our conviction amid the storms.

“We must say no to the kind of nostalgia that arrests our imaginations and instead fight for the America we want, for the world we desire, where every human being has standing and dignity, despite the howling winds, despite the depression that threatens to overwhelm,” Glaude said.

“Let’s choose the America that Dr. King gave his life for. He did not live to see it in the reality. We may not either. But let’s go to the grave fighting.”