Peace, Love and Unity with Livingston at Morning Ex

Parker welcomed a special guest last Friday, when Cullen J. Davis Young Men of Color Symposium keynote speaker—an award-winning educator, spoken word poet and author—Donovan Livingston spoke at Morning Ex.

Livingston first rose to acclaim when his Harvard Graduate School of Education convocation address “Lift Off” went viral with more than 13 million views. Since then, he has spoken to news outlets across the globe, and his speech was published as a book in 2017. Livingston earned master’s degrees from Columbia University and Harvard University and a Ph.D. in educational leadership and cultural foundations from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Currently, Livingston serves as the senior director of the nonprofit Emily Krzyzewski Center in Durham, North Carolina, where he leads four distinct programs designed to build on the academic, career and leadership potential of students who are historically underrepresented in higher education.

All those in the Heller Auditorium witnessed a sense of why Livingston’s message went viral when they heard his honest, empathetic and charismatic presentation style firsthand. His Morning Ex, “Disturb the Peace: Social Disruption Through Black Performance and Radical Storytelling,” immediately hooked the audience with his energetic performances of songs and pieces he had written, his back and forth with the students and, ultimately, his honest message.

Beginning with a history of hip hop and getting the crowd to chant its core principles—“Peace, Love, Unity”—Livingston shared some of his personal experiences. He discussed the importance of his upbringing, influences and family members, who acted as role models, in shaping who he was; using the poem “The Origin of Things,” he explained, “As we know our story/We know our power.” Throughout his presentation, Livingston performed many personal pieces, including “Engulfed,” “Dat Boi Clean” and “The Siege,” which he created by pulling words and phrases from speeches responding to the events of January 6. He concluded his Morning Ex with a call to action: “Will You Answer the Call?” he asked. He then explained that students could work to “interrogate their unawareness” through the three D’s: Disturb, Disrupt and Dismantle. He encouraged students to “reimagine these systems, policies and procedures that normalize inequities” and ended with another reading of “The Origin of Things.”

Parker is extremely grateful and honored that Livingston took time out of his busy schedule to speak at Morning Ex. His heartfelt, funny and poignant message struck a chord with the community and will surely lead many Parker students to “Answer the Call!”

Click here for photos of this Morning Ex.