Morehouse College is a special place. The only all-male historically Black college in the world, it has alumni ranging from Dr Martin Luther King Jr, the most celebrated anti-war civil rights leader in history, to Theodore “Ted” Colbert III, the CEO of Boeing’s defense, space and security division, a key player in supplying the weapons technologies for Israel’s months-long campaign of military vengeance on Palestinians.
While there is much diversity among the ranks of this brotherhood, Morehouse – also my alma mater – places a primacy on moral leadership and service, and Dr King has been a critical avatar in these efforts. There is a prominent statue of him on campus, his likeness is depicted as a silhouette on official college brochures, the chapel on campus is named in his honor. His papers are held nearby at the Robert W Woodruff Library. Considering King’s anti-militarism, and the college’s embrace of him as a beacon on campus, the decision to invite Joe Biden to give Morehouse’s commencement speech to this year’s graduating class is a moral disaster.
The US president’s staunch support of Israel in the face of its unrelenting assault on Palestinians in the Israel-Gaza war has sparked sustained protests throughout the country, most recently on multiple college campuses. And though some have tried to take King’s defense of Israel’s right to exist as evidence that he would affirm without qualification Israel’s present military campaign, his broader anti-militarism cannot be conveniently pushed aside, nor can his stated desire for a peaceful resolution in the region.
Israeli defense forces have killed more than 30,000 Palestinians since 7 October, more than 72,000 have been injured, and more than 1 million have been displaced and are vulnerable to hunger and disease. Meanwhile, US officials continue to say there is “no evidence” of genocide, even as experts say otherwise. For Biden’s part, he has not indicated that the US will stop sending weapons to Israel; and he has continued to direct his representatives at the UN to either abstain or vote against any ceasefire resolution brought before them.
This all reveals a striking distance between the Dr King who opposed war and violence and the imaginary Dr King who Morehouse’s president, David A Thomas, has conjured up. In an email to students, faculty and alumni announcing Biden’s acceptance of the speaking invitation, Thomas wrote: “drawing inspiration from Dr King’s vision of the Beloved Community, we recognize that personal, community, and international conflicts are inescapable. However, it is our moral duty to resolve these conflicts peacefully and to reconcile through an inclusive, joint commitment to goodwill and allyship.” Thomas might want to communicate this to Biden.
Biden’s refusal to halt military aid to Israel or to call for an immediate and lasting ceasefire has resulted in an electoral censure. Led by Arab Americans, thousands of Democratic primary voters across several states are selecting “uncommitted” on their ballots in protest. The president struggles with most of his key constituencies, most notably Black voters. It is likely that anxieties about the declining support among young Black voters weighed on Biden’s decision to accept the Morehouse invitation some seven months after it was extended. He seems to want to appeal to them for political support without boldly addressing the issues that routinely come up for them, such as crippling student debt and higher costs of living.
Meanwhile, students in the Atlanta University Center Consortium (AUCC) – a group of historically Black institutions including Clark Atlanta University, Spelman College, Morehouse College and Morehouse School of Medicine – have been unequivocal in calling out their administrations’ ties to companies doing business with Israel. Coalitions such as the Student Intercommunal Coordinating Committee have also connected the issue of Palestine to the Stop Cop City movement, which aims to prevent the construction of a law enforcement training center in Atlanta. For their efforts, they have faced harassment, intimidation and the possibility of arrest. (More than 300 AUCC alumni have signed a letter urging the administrations to support students’ right to organize and protest on campus.)
A small but intrepid group called Faculty for Justice in Palestine – Georgia has joined students in calling AUCC administrations to account. In a recent statement calling on Morehouse leadership to rescind its invitation to Biden, group leaders wrote, “any college or university that gives its commencement stage to President Biden in this moment is endorsing genocide.” (Biden is also delivering the commencement address at West Point.)
Students around the country, including many in the AUCC, are standing in the tradition of Dr King. They do so in the context of a broader movement and crackdown – the most intense this country has seen since 1968. Biden has smeared these students – the very people he needs to secure his electoral prospects – as “antisemitic” and uninformed. College and university administrations set riot police upon them and threaten them with disciplinary action.
At precisely the moment when students all over the country are showing us the meaning of courage, Morehouse’s invitation to the president shows profound cowardice. The moral leaders in this moment have been clear all along. We should join them.
Jared Loggins is a professor of Black studies and political science at Amherst College.