For Immediate Release

January 22, 2024

CONTACT: Sonali Knotek, 262-498-6664, sknotek1@gmail.com or Elaine Marie Kinch, rcpjpeace@yahoo.com

Message to Gateway Technical College Leadership Regarding the Recinding of MLK Humanitarian Award to the Burlington Coalition to Dismantle Racism (BCD Racism)

The following is the message sent by the Racine Coalition for Peace and Justice (RCPJ) to Gateway Technical College President Ritu Raju and Board of Trustees on January 18, 2024. RCPJ awaits a response.

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The Racine Coalition for Peace and Justice is deeply disappointed over Gateway’s recent decision to rescind the MLK Humanitarian Award to the Burlington Coalition for Dismantling Racism (BCDR). Rescinding the award based on Laura Bielefeldt’s post on Palestine on her own social media platform is a cowardly political act and an affront to free speech. As an institution of higher education, Gateway should show its students the value and importance of free speech in a democracy. Instead, Gateway chose not only to punish freedom of expression but also render Dr. King’s legacy meaningless by narrowing the institution’s focus to what is politically convenient.

Gateway’s claim that BCDR didn’t reflect the spirit of the (MLK) award, which purportedly is “to honor peace, fairness and equity” has no merit. At an anti-war rally in Minnesota in 1967, Dr. King spoke about the indivisibility of justice famously stating that, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” King went on to state, “I am concerned about justice for everybody world over.”

BCDR’s tireless efforts to educate and interrupt racism in the Burlington community are well documented. BCDR members’ understanding of the relationship between the oppression faced by different minorities is completely in line with the oppression that Dr. King fought against. Gateway’s decision to rescind the MLK award to BCDR not only goes against Dr. King’s legacy but also shows it’s narrow and contrived understanding of “peace, fairness, and equity.” We request that an apology be extended to Ms. Bielefeldt and the decision to rescind the MLK award to BCDR be reversed.