The 2023 commemoration theme is “Peace, Education, and Healthcare,” and included student- and staff-led programming, breakout sessions and six service projects. While peace and education were known hallmarks of King’s ideology, UVU MLK Committee members saw health care as a pressing issue that needed to be addressed while commemorating Rev. King’s legacy.

Peace is and was a hallmark of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s leadership. King emphasized non-violent activism. Despite being imprisoned multiple times, having his house bombed and facing unrelenting threats, King maintained the importance of remaining peaceful in protests and resistance. King led some of the largest peaceful protests in US history including the Montgomery bus boycott. In 1964, MLK was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for using nonviolent resistance to fight racial inequality.

On paper, the two keynote speakers are very different, and committee organizers intended this dichotomy.

“It’s important to have both stories, so that we can get a more holistic view of the topics of King’s messages and his legacy as we commemorate it,” said Priscilla Villasenor-Navarro, a UVU student, presidential intern and member of the UVU Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Committee. “Dr. Wilson was the perfect fit with the educational aspect of our theme, and [Hinton] really aligned with the peace theme, and his story about being incarcerated and talking about the high incarceration rate within the Black community, especially with Black men, fits really well with peace.”

Courtesy Utah Valley University

Dr. Wilson earned a standing ovation as he spoke passionately about the legacy of Rev. King and his childhood pursuit of education, despite growing up in abject poverty.

“A lot of hands have gone into the making of who I am and to lead me to a point to where I can say, to Dr. King and to all of those who gave everything, their lives, that you didn’t do that in vain,” Wilson said.

Rev. King was a known advocate for education, not only did he hold a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, he also holds a Doctorate in systematic theology from Boston University. While working on his bachelors — which he began pursuing at age 15 — King wrote an essay entitled “The Purpose of Education.” In the composition, King puts forward his belief that education should be designed to not only enhance student’s knowledge, but also help develop their character.

Wilson is president of Morgan State University and has worked hard to make education a reality, specifically for young people of color. Morgan State, a “historically Black” research university, is located in Baltimore, Maryland, and was established to educate freed African American slaves in the 1860s. In his time there, Wilson has increased freshmen retention and the number of scholarships and degree programs offered.

Hinton, author of the book “The Sun Does Shine,” was convicted of two counts of capital murder and served 28 years in prison before being exonerated. He believes that racism is what led to his incarceration and points out that the judge, jury, prosecutors and public defender in his case were all white. Racism has been a major issue in his life and continues to this day.

Mr. Hinton was wrongfully convicted of murdering two fast food managers in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1985. He recounted the experiences that led him to being that longest serving inmate on death row and his subsequent release in 2015.

“The state of Alabama didn’t need any evidence,” Hinton told listeners. “The state of Alabama had the most strongest evidence the one could have in the judicial system in America. You see, I was born black and poor.”

“I came here today to tell you that the system is not broken,” Hinton added. “The system is working exactly the way it was designed to work. I believe that America needs to have an open and honest conversation about race.”