Dr. Bernice King, daughter of Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., delivered a talk on the King philosophy of nonviolence and love-centered activism at Pearson Hall Theatre in the Lang Performing Arts Center on Friday, Jan. 24. The event, hosted by Swarthmore College’s Black Cultural Center (BCC) and the William J. Cooper Foundation, concluded Swarthmore’s MLK Week commemorations.
King’s work is dedicated to preserving her father’s legacy of nonviolent social change. She is the CEO of the King Center, the official living memorial to her father’s life and legacy, through which she conducts social policy advocacy research and education and training initiatives on the nonviolent principles and strategies modeled by her parents—an effort she has branded as Nonviolence365.
The Cooper Series description of the event acknowledged that “the Kings (Martin, Coretta, and their children) are not one-dimensional historical figures, and that their ideological and political stances are relevant and transformative in current times.” King’s work has been marked with controversy in the past regarding anti-LGBTQ+ rights advocacy. In 2004, King participated in a march advocating for a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. However, in 2015 her stance shifted—the King Center issued a press release supporting the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Obergefell vs. Hodges.
The evening began with a performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” also known as the Black National Anthem, written by James Weldon Johnson and composed by John Rosamond Johnson. Brandon Archer ’25 joined King on stage as the evening’s moderator. Archer is pursuing a special double major in Black studies and English literature, focusing on “Visual Cultures and Literatures of the African Diaspora.” He says the BCC approached him to moderate the event, noting the importance of having a student involved with Black organizing be part of the conversation.
Archer began by acknowledging the recent national changes in the past week, which began with MLK Day and President Donald Trump’s inauguration, to which King responded, “Like many people, I’m deeply concerned and troubled about where we are as a nation.” She continued, “I come from a bloodline of fighters and resisters, and people, more importantly, who had an ultimate vision for a nation of world—I’m staying focused on that vision.”
Archer asked her to elaborate on that vision, to which she introduced the notion of the Beloved Community, a philosophy proposed by Father Josiah Royce and embraced by her father, emphasizing a society motivated by love, compassion, and kindness. King stressed the importance of respecting individual personhood as part of this philosophy: “It’s about creating a world where you don’t tolerate certain things that strip that personhood.”
She encouraged the audience to read her father’s book, “Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?” to learn more about how to coexist nonviolently. She quoted him, posing the choice between nonviolent coexistence or violent co-annihilation he presented 58 years ago. “And that’s where we still are today,” King remarked.
Regarding the Kingian philosophy, Archer shared that what interested him most was the idea of love as something beyond a feeling, a framework for being and interacting with the world. He asked King, “In this moment, what does love-centered justice look like?”
King drew on her father’s teachings, exploring the relationship between power, love, and justice and how they are interconnected: “Specifically, he talked about how power at its best is love, including the demands of justice and justice at its best is love, correcting everything against love.” She underscored the importance of addressing the circumstances that create injustice, particularly within the context of the justice system. “Non-violence seeks to defeat injustice and not people,” she explained.
Archer agreed, while highlighting the importance of accountability for the frameworks that perpetuate injustice. He asked King how to resist injustice in the face of accountability deafness. King responded that to obtain accountability, it has to be framed as a movement. “With Kingian nonviolence, you organize for the purpose of exposing and bringing to the surface the injustice.” She explained the importance of practicing nonviolence from a pure place: “So with nonviolence, the aggression is towards the injustice, but you still extend the heart of compassion towards the person who’s doing the unjust act.”
Reflecting on the event, Archer said he appreciated how King “demands us to reckon with the structures” that permit violence to persist. He shared the importance of King’s love-centered discipline, specifically how to have conversations that present love and nonviolence as substantial practices.
Archer related the conversation to campus, asking King what the utility of Kingian principles is for college students organizing today. King responded that nonviolent principles, particularly strategy, are very useful for students to study. She stressed that nonviolence is a lifestyle that requires daily commitment.
Archer’s next question addressed the challenge of sustaining a nonviolent mindset during ongoing injustices, specifically how to counter enduring state violence like genocide with nonviolence; King answered: “You just do it.”
She elaborated: “Nonviolence understands that there may be a sacrifice of life.” King continued, “Trust me, when my father went out there, they had to decide: am I willing to lose my life for a greater cause? And that’s one of the steps of nonviolence.”
She acknowledged the challenge of fully surrendering to nonviolence but reminded us of the moral obligation it asks of us: “In nonviolence, you are taught to disobey unjust laws…We have a moral obligation not to cooperate with evil. ” She continued, “We’re in that season where we’re going to have to decide… Am I willing to make the sacrifice to disobey this unjust law?”
Archer asked how to preserve the legacy of the “inconvenient King,” who “makes us look into words” and “reckon the systems.” King emphasized the importance of sharing the Kingian philosophy and equipping people with its teachings. She tied this into her experience continuing her father’s legacy, saying she sees her work as a responsibility. “I think about my mother’s words…struggle is a never-ending process, freedom is never really won, it is won in every generation.”
Archer shared that one of his biggest takeaways from the event was the reverence he felt for King and her family history, “I think a big part of me left just feeling the weight of all of the history of experiences and the depths of experiences that she and her family have had.To insert myself in that lineage, I think was a really powerful thing.”
In the Q&A, King answered questions about the civic responsibilities of nonviolent movements and the importance of understanding and practicing nonviolence. The first question by Assistant Professor of Music Tracey Stewart asked King about the significance of fulfilling civic responsibilities, like voting, to the success of a nonviolent, love-centered movement. King responded that voting is a nonviolent act, and thus, a critical part of the practice of nonviolence. She highlighted the importance of being engaged after voting and using nonviolence to hold elected officials accountable.
The second question was from Swarthmore student Savannah Wilcox ’28, who asked King to elaborate on “what it means to practice nonviolence and the approach of love during a genocide.” King said that the problem was how genocide is deeply rooted in cultural attitudes, calling for a shift in societal values and practices to embrace nonviolence. She described Kingian nonviolence as a strict discipline “that refuses to retaliate,” explaining that the practice of nonviolence accepts that there will be casualties in the process, its goal being to reduce the number of casualties overall.
Archer said it was this unwavering nature of nonviolence that he found interesting. “Nonviolence is something that I’m grappling with, the use of it: who determines the privilege of nonviolence, the tensions of nonviolence?” he continued, “I think the most important thing, and the thing that pierces through all of that tension, is love.” Archer acknowledged the criticisms of Kingian philosophy, saying that he has critiqued the philosophy himself, “But there is utility here,” he urged, “and there’s so much power and potential in a practice that is decentering itself.”
King concluded by speaking to the call for the nonviolence movement today: “We started in violence, and we’re still hostage to violence. Until we decide we want to take a different force, violence is going to continue to haunt the United States of America. When he [Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.] says it’s nonviolence or non-existence, that’s where we are.”
