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U Of I Prof. Benson At King Celebration: ‘Find Your Super Power’

by Jeff Bossert
 
U of I Professor Chris Benson delivered the keynote address at the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration and Awards event Friday at Parkland College.

U of I Professor Chris Benson delivered the keynote address at the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration and Awards event Friday at Parkland College. Jeff Bossert/Illinois Public Media

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More than 50 years after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, University of Illinois associate professor Chris Benson says the US is again facing the “mountain of despair” the civil rights leader once spoke of. The keynote speaker at Friday’s Martin Luther King countywide celebration in Champaign says it’s up to each of us to find our own way to address what he calls a destructive and dehumanizing debate going on in the U.S. today. 

Benson says by that, he meant, not politics, but the quality of current political speech.

The University of Illinois Journalism and African-American Studies Professor encouraged an audience of more than 150 people at Parkland College to “find their super power”.

“When you ignite that superpower, and use it to promote social good, you will have locked on to your purpose in life," he said. "Put it to use in making an important difference – a positive difference. And four more words in this connection – always live on purpose.”

The crowd of more than 150 listening to Prof. Benson's comments Friday at Parkland College in Champaign.

Photo Credit: Jeff Bossert/Illinois Public Media

Benson also cited words from Dr. King’s 1963 “I Have A Dream’ speech - “out of a mountain of despair, a stone of hope” - as a means of motivation for his audience.