HANOVER — Addressing the crowd at Dartmouth College’s Rollins Chapel on Thursday evening, assistant professor of sociology Shaonta’ Allen asked audience members to close their eyes and imagine what a liberated society might look like.
Silence blanketed the warm hall as people bowed their heads in concentration.
“Maybe you dreamed of communities that are united by their differences, rather than being segregated by them,” Allen said, after a few moments had passed. Others might have imagined a world where indigenous communities could return to their native soil, Allen said, or where workers were paid a living wage.
“Our dreams might vary, but they all shed light on the bigger picture, that we have work to do, and now is the time for truth and action,” Allen said.
Allen, the keynote speaker at a public multifaith celebration of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. hosted by the college’s William Jewett Tucker Center for Spiritual and Ethical Living, imparted the importance of imagining a better future, even one that’s never been seen before.
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