On the 55th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, Simmons College of Kentucky announced a new $2 million initiative on racial justice. College President Kevin Cosby announced the gift from the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation during a service at St. Stephen Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky. The centerpiece of the initiative will be creation of The Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson Sr. Center for Racial Justice.
Jackson, who was standing beside King at the time he was shot to death in Memphis, Tenn., was present in Louisville this week for the service where the new center was announced. Jackson is an activist, community organizer, Baptist minister and former candidate for U.S. president.
The announcement also coincided with release of a 90-page report from the U.S. Department of Justice that said the Louisville Metro Police Department has a pattern of violating civil rights, conducting unlawful searches and discriminating against Black people and people with disabilities. The report was the culmination of a two-year investigation into the department, launched one year after the police killing of Breonna Taylor in her apartment.
“The DOJ report necessitates that we respond,” Cosby said, adding creation of the new center named for Jackson is part of that response. “Our goal is to move the Black community in partnership with other grassroots organizations in our city from disparity to equity.”
Jackson sat with former U.S. Senate candidate Charles Booker, who currently serves on the cabinet of Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.
“We need those collaborative spaces where government, faith and grassroots leaders, young leaders, folks all over the community in government and out, can come together and say, ‘How do we solve these deep problems?’” Booker told a local TV station.
Neither Cosby, who also serves as pastor at St. Stephen Baptist, nor Simmons College are new to advocating for justice. In Kentucky, the pastor and the school are recognized community leaders.
As an institution, we seek not only to educate but to empower our students to be agents of racial progress in their communities,” a news release said. “As a faith-based institution, we can also draw upon the rich faith tradition of the Black church — the oldest and largest religious movement in the U.S that was intentionally formed to oppose racism and white supremacy. Simmons College of Kentucky stands at the precipice of opportunity to synthesize, organize and energize racial justice efforts in Louisville and beyond.”
The new Jackson Center will organize its work according to three pillars originally outlined by Jemar Tisby in his book How to Fight Racism. Those pillars are awareness, relationships and commitment — collectively known as the ARC of Racial Justice.
Tisby, a public historian, now teaches at Simmons College and will direct the center.
Among its programs, the center will “develop undergraduate students in their ability to identify injustice and work toward positive transformation,” the news release said. “It will convene scholars and practitioners to share their knowledge and develop best practices for fighting racism. And it will generate and model methods for improving outcomes by shifting rules and laws to better support Black people and other people of color.”
Two years ago, the Baugh Foundation gave Baptist Seminary of Kentucky a $750,000 grant to begin its Institute in Black Church Studies, which is housed on the Simmons College campus.
