Image via Colin Royal

By Colin Royal, Managing Editor of Print 

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s multigenerational impact and relevance was highlighted during the first Crown Forum of the Spring 2024 semester in the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel. Rev. Dr. Lawrence Carter emphatically labeled the forum as the best King’s Chapel MLK address that he’s heard in the last 44 years. 

Carter opened the forum with powerful remarks. He explained how King was a man that not only fostered change and revolution, but inspired the following generations to do the same. 

“The quality of your moral worth is based on the quality of your relationships, regardless of skin color,” Carter said.

He impressed the importance of lifting each other up and fighting for what is right upon the Morehouse community. 

The second speaker–Rev. Elijah Waller–echoed the same sentiments while impressing the importance of students and their potential impact on the world.

When addressing students, Waller said, “Look at the greatness that stares back at you. See the impact that you can have in the world.”

Carter and Waller’s brief words set the stage for the primary speaker– Rev. Dr. Eboni Marshall Turman.

Turman presented her own unique view on King’s Legacy. Prefacing her speech, she referenced King’s final public address: “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” 

Using King’s words as a springboard, Turman spoke on the power of King’s prophetic sound and how its origins are rooted in influential Black women. 

“Women are the perfecters of King’s prophetic sound,” Turman said. “It is at his mother’s feet where he first came to discover that prophetic voice.”  

She went on to explain the lack of recognition and acknowledgement of women in the Black church. She would later talk about the disrespect and prejudice against queer people within the church as well. 

“The moral crisis of modern prophetic Black churches is the erasure of the impact of Black women,” Turman said.  

Her words were invoking; she moved the audience skillfully with her passion and fervor. Before she closed her speech, she ensured the audience knew that they had the responsibility to protect others as well as themselves.

“A future place where God’s glory dwells does not matter if it doesn’t provoke commentary or improvement on where we are right now,” Turman said.  

Copy Edited by: Auzzy Byrdsell, Editor in Chief