Vice-Chancellor of The University of the West Indies (The UWI), Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, recipient of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day ‘Peace and Freedom Award’, thanking Reverend Al Sharpton, President and Founder of the National Action Network (NAN).
Professor Sir Hilary Beckles is the proud recipient of the prestigious National Action Network (NAN) Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Peace and Freedom Award.
This is the 30th anniversary for the awards by which the work, and the legacy of Dr. King are celebrated and persons honoured with a view to refocusing and sustaining his dream.
Sir Hilary, the Vice-Chancellor of The University of the West Indies (The UWI), was recognised for his global advocacy, academic scholarship and intellectual leadership in support of social justice, institutional equity, and economic development for marginalised and oppressed ethnicities and nations.
During the virtual ceremony yesterday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Sir Hilary expressed to Reverend Al Sharpton, President and Founder of NAN, that he was honoured and humbled to have been considered within the context of the legacy of Dr. King.Sir Hilary shared with the internationally renowned civil rights leader that by studying history and economics, he wanted to know “the history of our people and I wanted to know the economics to advance their interest, and Dr. King for us was the perfect balance of that model”.
“How to be theologian; how to be a philosopher; how to be a political theorist – but at the same time, how to be a mobiliser, an organiser and get out on the streets in the communities and get the work done. So, that was the model that my generation grew up with; that was the model that has framed my own views of the world.”
Sir Hilary, who is also Chairman of the CARICOM Reparations Commission, reminded Reverend Sharpton, “In 2001 when we met, I said that the Reparatory Justice movement is going to be the greatest political movement of the 21st century. And all of the people of the world who have suffered enslavement, colonisation – they are going to rise up for justice and this movement is going to be a global movement. And we looked to Dr. King’s legacy for the template of this movement, growth and potential, and looking at the economics of development as well as the sociology of justice. So, Dr. King was our template and remains for us the guiding light in this global Reparatory Justice Movement.”
Recognising fellow awardees, Sir Hilary however made special note of Dr. Anthony Fauci, famous American physician and renowned Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), praising him for “placing the science before the politics to save lives”. Dr. Fauci received the Lifetime Community Service Award.
“One of my tasks, Reverend Al, as a University leader here, has been to work with our governments to put the science before the politics and we have done so. I am very proud of how the Caribbean people have been able to reduce the infection rate, suppress death rates, and relatively speaking the people of the Caribbean have done well by placing the science before the politics, and our University has had a great deal to do with that,” he said.
Reverend Sharpton expressed that Sir Hilary, President of Universities Caribbean, Chairman of the Caribbean Examinations Council, and Advisor on Sustainable Development to former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, is deserving of the recognition.
“Every year as we have the National Action Network – Martin Luther King Holiday Breakfast in Washington, we look for someone who has personified in their own work, in their own life – the global fight for human rights, human dignity, particularly in the African diaspora. And there is no doubt about it that Sir Hilary Beckles has been one in that tradition. I would say unequalled in the present African diaspora of those of us that are still among us.
“Anyone that is familiar with academia; anyone that is a serious student of activism in the academic world, in the global struggle; anyone that has a serious tendency to study the struggles and interconnecting of the struggles around the world, knows of Sir Beckles and his work. And anyone who knows anything about cricket, knows about him too,” Reverend Sharpton said.
Prior Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day awardees include the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton; Berry Gordy, Founder of Motown Music; and the 82nd Attorney General of the USA, Eric Holder. (TL)