- Rental Event
THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO ADVERSE WEATHER CONDITIONS. IT WILL BE RESCHEDULED AT A LATER DATE TO BE DETERMINED. The MLK Committee will be working with both speakers to reschedule this event, and will inform the campus community as soon as they have a confirmed date.
Award-winning rapper Macklemore and Black Lives Matter co-founder Opal Tometi participate in a panel moderated by Lehigh University professor Dr. James Peterson. The MLK Planning Committee is excited to present some of the nation's most significant voices in social justice today. Click here for additional information.
Seattle-based Hip Hop duo, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis recently released Downtown, the first single from their follow up to The Heist, their multiple GRAMMY Award-winning, platinum selling debut album. Downtown, which features Eric Nally and Hip Hop pioneers Grandmaster Caz, Kool Moe Dee and Melle Mel, has been performed on the VMA’s and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and the video has been viewed nearly 78 million times on YouTube. Last month, on the American Music Awards, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and soul singer Leon Bridges performed, Kevin, a riveting new song that tackles the prescription drug epidemic in America. The duo is hard at work on their follow up release, and will be visiting Lehigh University in the midst of a U.S. tour.
A dedicated activist working at the intersection of racial justice and immigrant rights for more than a decade, Opal Tometi was incensed by the 2013 acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin and was inspired to take action. Starting the Twitter hashtag, #BlackLivesMatter, Tometi (with Alicia Garza and Patrisse Cullors), prompted activism nationwide and introduced the banner under which this generation’s civil rights movement marches. An established immigration rights advocate and community organizer, Tometi’s passionate interest stems from experience as the child of Nigerian immigrants. Recognized as a rising leader in the movement, she was named a “New Civil Rights Leader” by the Los Angeles Times for her work bridging immigrant and human rights initiatives to the ever-growing black liberation movement.