About 700 guests attended the breakfast Jan. 18 in Alumni Hall and heard O’Brien honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
O’Brien has worked for CNN, HBO, Al Jazeera America and her own multimedia distribution company, Starfish Media Group. She has made several documentaries recounting the experiences of minorities in America and has been recognized for her work by several organizations, such as the National Association of Black Journalists and the Peabody Awards Program.
This year’s campus-wide celebration of King’s civil rights work centered around the theme “A Call to All,” which urges faculty, staff and students to make the holiday not a day of rest, but a day of volunteerism and activism.
After an introduction from IU President Michael McRobbie, who called for tolerance and brotherhood on campus, O’Brien took the stage and delved into her family history and her experiences as a journalist who pushes to tell the tough stories.
O’Brien’s mother and father, who are Afro-Cuban and white respectively, married in a time when mixed-race couples were frowned upon and, in most cases, illegal. Her parents ran to Washington, D.C., to get married and returned to their town of Baltimore and lived illegally as an interracial couple.
Their story inspires O’Brien to this day. She, like her parents, could go against the grain, challenge the norms and still be successful.
She also emphasized the value of lessons learned from King and how he pushed for a discomfort that pressures people into inspiring social change. She noted how the more challenging words of the colloquially titled “I Have a Dream” speech are often overlooked.
“It’s an uncomfortable speech,” O’Brien said. “He was always about pushing for more, for justice for everyone.”
O’Brien ended her keynote address by stressing the importance of journalism as a vehicle for justice and how compassion is necessary to solve problems.
“What do you stand for, and what do you stand up for?” she asked.
The leadership breakfast, which featured a host of presentations in addition to O’Brien’s keynote speech, was one of the main IU-sponsored events of the day.
Other speakers at the breakfast included Vice Provost for Educational Inclusion and Diversity Martin McCrory, Provost Lauren Robel, Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton, Executive Director of Teach for America Brittany Packnett and Melanie Douglas, representative of the office of Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Indiana.
The breakfast also featured a musical selection from the African American Choral Ensemble, directed by Raymond Wise. The group performed the song “Stand” prior to James Wimbush, vice president of Diversity, Equity, and Multicultural Affairs. Wimbush presented the Building Bridges Awards, given to individuals who have worked to promote King’s visions of equality.
After closing remarks from McCrory and a performance of the Unity Anthem led by Jacobs School of Music graduate student Tislam Swift, several attendees headed to the Frangipani Room for O’Brien’s book signing.
McCrory, who said he anticipates this event every year, looks forward to expanding the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day leadership breakfast into something bigger in the future.
“We as a campus have come together for something extremely positive,” McCrory said. “How many times do you get 700 people coming in on a day off for a cause so great?”
