Texas A&M: Aggies Host 15th Year Of Popular Breakfast Event, Carrying On Legacy Of MLK
Texas A&M University’s Carter G. Woodson Black Awareness Committee (MSC WBAC) today hosted the 15th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast, and MSC WBAC chair Matthew Francis ’22 said the Aggie students who organize the event take pride in carrying on King’s legacy of respectful dialogue.
“The Reverend Dr. King inspired difficult conversations in a respectful way and that’s what we strive for,” said Francis, a senior political science major from New Orleans. “Our core values as Aggies hold us to a high standard.”
The annual event brings a different speaker in each time, something Francis said is beneficial to have. “Each speaker lets us explore the teachings of Dr. King through different topics and perspectives,” he said.
This morning’s guest speaker was scholar and activist Molefi Kete Asante, founder of the Afrocentrism movement, who spoke with moderator Lt. Col. Stephen G. Ruth ’92, director of the Strategic Officer Recruiting Detachment & Initiatives, Army ROTC.
The breakfast was held in-person at the MSC Bethancourt Ballroom and also streamed on the MSC WBAC website.
“Martin Luther King’s place is perhaps at the very peak of America’s social and cultural history,” Asante told the audience. “I don’t think that there is any person that I can place as a moral leader in this nation at his level, and that is a magnificent thing given that he was only 26 years old at the beginning of his quest.”
Francis said the MSC WBAC is committed to continuing dialogue on campus about diversity, equity and inclusion.
“Our purpose is to expose, explore and educate the campus community on issues within the African diaspora,” he said. “These are topics that may be new and interesting to students who may have never had the opportunity to talk about these things or to hear from experts in these fields.”
Francis said he’s personally inspired by King to fight for what is right.
“I may not understand what it’s like to be a woman or LGBTQIA+, but there’s right and wrong and if something is wrong, we need to call it out, that’s what Dr. King did. Fight on – it may be hard today, but you stick to it because you know it’s the right thing to do… We are blessed to be able to have events like the breakfast where we come to the table and we discuss hard things.”