Dear Stanford, what about MLK?

      “Action expresses priorities.”  This quote comes from nonviolent leader, Mohandas Gandhi.  This past Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, as I read a “San Jose Mercury News” article entitled: “At Stanford, King’s legacy lives in what was supposed to be its temporary home,” by Lisa M. Krieger (https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/01/20/at-stanford-kings-legacy-lives-in-what-was-supposed-to-be-its-temporary-home/), I realized that Gandhi’s words still ring true.  Dr. Clayborne Carson, History Professor at Stanford University and Director of The Martin Luther King Jr., Research and Education Institute and The Martin Luther King Papers Project (since 1985), is interviewed in the article.

  

Photo credit: kinginstitute.stanford.edu

The mission of “The Papers Project” is this: “To publish the definitive fourteen-volume edition of The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., a comprehensive collection of King's most significant correspondence, sermons, speeches, published writings, and unpublished manuscripts.”  As I did a little more research, I learned that “The Papers Project” is not only an arm of the The King Center, in Atlanta, Georgia, but that the late Coretta Scott King, personally invited Dr. Carson to lead the initiative (https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/about-papers-project)!  In short, the Mercury news article documents the anxiety that Dr. Carson feels (with his own retirement on the horizon) in wondering what will become of the Project.  Simply stated, “The Papers Project” has been “temporarily” housed in a portable on Stanford University’s campus, for the past 34 years.  I am in agreement with Dr. Carson, that “King’s legacy deserves better.”

Photo credit: SCOPE2035 (Student protest signs, February 2018)

Photo credit: Google.com

As I began to process this reality, I came to realize that the current state of affairs regarding “The Papers Project” perpetuates racial inequality as it pertains to access of university resources. Therefore, it is undoubtedly a looming example of both structural and institutional racism, in the United States, no matter how subtle.  I find it hard to believe that I would be writing this article if a white male were the subject of conversation.  And yet, just two months earlier, Stanford withdrew its application for a 17-year expansion plan, the largest proposed development in the history of Santa Clara County.  I submit that if a university has the financial means to expand its campus at this magnitude, it certainly has the resources to properly house The Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project.  In fact, “The Papers Project” has been in existence double the amount of years that it would have taken Stanford to expand their campus, had the university not withdrawn its development application this past November.  This fact alone is most certainly appalling, to say the least! 

In summary, Stanford proposed to build 550 units of on-campus housing with an estimated 9,500 person increase in its student population.  However, student advocacy groups such as Stanford Coalition for Planning an Equitable (SCOPE) 2035 (https://scope2035.weebly.com/), aimed to push the university to not only increase the number of student housing units within its development application, but to also contribute their “fair share” of housing to largely overlooked populations in the housing discussion such as Stanford’s service workers and some of the most vulnerable populations in surrounding cities in the region (such as East Palo Alto residents) – who would no doubt be displaced, had this 3.5 million square foot project received a green light from the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors.  

Photo credit: SCOPE2035 (Student activist speaking to Palo Alto City Council January 2019, about Stanford's proposed expansion and its housing impacts)

As I expanded my research on “The Papers Project” being “temporarily” housed in a portable on Stanford’s campus, I realized that there was a link between this situation and the university withdrawing its application for a 17-year expansion plan.  I realized that at the crux of both of these issues was/is Stanford’s unwillingness to build sufficient housing, much less its unwillingness to prioritize the needs of the most vulnerable populations within their reach.  

Photo credit: SCOPE2035 (Student protester)

For this reason, I submit that perhaps Stanford can currently ignore the needs of the marginalized people which King fought for (like service workers and historically disenfranchised communities), because for decades, they have ignored the legacy of Dr. King, himself. If one does not honor a leader of marginalized people, he or she will not honor marginalized communities—for they are one and the same.  The reason that the building where “The Papers Project” is located can sit neglected for 34 years, is because it is indicative of the university’s priorities.  Dear Stanford, Dr. King needs adequate and dignified housing, now. And so do the communities for which he fought.

With urgency,

Kyra Brown, M.Div., East Palo Alto

#SCOPE2035 #EastPaloAlto #HousingCrisis #StanfordUniversity #MLKPapersProject #KingInstitute