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Political Science

Martin Luther King Jr. Day Teach-In 2012

On January 16, 2012, IWU held its 8th annual King Day Teach-In. Below are the opening remarks by Professor James Simeone:

This event is sponsored by the Action Research Center (ARC) and Pi Sigma Alpha, the political science honor society. ARC works with many organizations in the community, which Martin Luther King Jr. would have called organizations of creative maladjustment. King thought that we should not be well-adjusted to society—at least until society stopped promoting injustices.

King was a great advocate of social justice and each year at his teach-in we honor him by choosing a theme and inviting representatives from community organizations to inform us and challenge us at this teach-in.

We get habituated to an unjust status quo and Dr. King would exhort us creatively to challenge the status quo and to refuse to become adjusted to it. This year's theme is Food and Social Justice, and we have invited representatives from groups that are fighting to make the food status quo more just.

How should we define social justice? What is social justice? This is one of those questions that you come to a liberal arts college to learn to answer for yourself. It will take some time because what constitutes social justice is one of the great philosophical questions of our time, indeed of all times. How did King define social justice? Well, when he was shot in Memphis, he was working to organize the garbage workers of that city to fight to be paid a living wage. You can get a start of an answer to that question with that fact.

So you will spend your whole career answering questions like this. The approach ARC takes is to get you involved in community projects with the hope that you will be better prepared to answer the questions of social justice.

Dr. King famously said more than once: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." It is a hopeful statement—but of course it doesn't always come true unless we work at it. So the point of this day and these panels is to take the opportunity to learn about an issue on which we might want to get involved and stay working at making society a little bit less unjust.

Keynote speaker Danny Burke
Keynote speaker Danny Burke (IWU alumnus '09) addressed the national problem of food deserts and offered his recommendations for a sustainable food system.
Keynote speaker Danny Burke
Burke's speech, entitled "Guns But No Tomatoes," intrigued the audience.
Weir Fellow Danny Kenny
Weir Fellow Danny Kenny presents his report, "Community Gardens in Higher Education," on the trends in campus gardens nationally.
Elaine Sebald, coordinator of the Bloomington Farmer's Market and member of the Heartland Local Food Network
Elaine Sebald, coordinator of the Bloomington Farmer's Market and member of the Heartland Local Food Network, makes her case for transforming the local food system.
Professor William Munro
Professor William Munro engages in dialogue following his talk "Food Aid, Philanthropy, and the Farm Bill: How Should We Tackle Hunger in the Global Food Economy?"
Emily Carroll, member of the Chicago NGO "Food and Water Watch"
Emily Carroll, member of the Chicago NGO "Food and Water Watch" elaborates her main points following her talk.
Toni More and Kelby Cumpston, from the organization "Feed the Need"
Toni More and Kelby Cumpston, from the organization "Feed the Need," explained the gleaning program sponsored by the Market Street Food Market in Bloomington.
Aaron Smith
Aaron Smith asks a question during the teach-in.
Megan Thompson, Peace Fellow and panel organizer
Megan Thompson, Peace Fellow and panel organizer, leads the discussion on the topic "Food Insecurity: International, National, and Local Perspectives."
Teach-in participants
Teach-in participants discuss food justice issues.
ARC coordinator, Deborah Halperin, and Valerie Dumser, West Bloomington Revitalization Partnership chair
ARC coordinator, Deborah Halperin, and Valerie Dumser, West Bloomington Revitalization Partnership chair, reflect on the teach-in's themes.