Growing From The Root: A Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King

I was honored to deliver the 2026 MLK Service Day Keynote Address at one of our partner schools, William Penn Charter School at their 30th Annual Martin Luther King Service Day.

Brown Girls Garden has been partnered with Penn Charter, the oldest Quaker school in the world, since May 2025 and their assistance through their Center for Public Purpose has been invaluable as I embark on my land stewardship journey with Philly Wild Garden.

I jumped at the opportunity to not only speak about Dr. King and how his message influences my mission and personal values, but also to talk to students and adults alike about Penn’s theme for the year: Justice and Integrity. Now more than ever it’s important to define yourself FOR yourself.

We all know the big MLK marker speeches and the larger Civil Rights Movement: “I Have A Dream”, “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, the boycotts, the marches — but how did he become THAT? When we meet King, he’s poised. He’s confident. He’s standing on business. But what came before? What went into the making of a MAN before the world made him an ICON? We know him by his leaves, but not enough thought is given to his ROOTS.

My remarks centered on the time King spent right here in the Philadelphia area, honing his value system through separation and intense examination of himself, the word of God, and the unjust systems and social evils surrounding him.

We all come “pre-loaded” with certain expectations, right? From your parents, from what society seeks to project on you, all that. But through discernment you must cultivate your own your values and unique purpose apart from that. “Leave the gun and take the cannoli” of what life throws at you so you're out of the weeds and ready to meet your moment, tackling the injustices of our time head on — just like Dr. King.

He took the time to read everything and everyone from Gandhi to Kant to Marx and Sartre. Philosophy, economics, religion and their critics alike, all to formulate his own opinions through the examination of all perspectives, while strongly rooted in the simplicity of one divine truth: We are all equal in the eyes of God. MLK got deep down into defining himself and in defining himself, he defined the Civil Rights Movement.

Dr. Martin Luther King attended Crozer Theological Seminary near Philadelphia after graduating Morehouse University at just 19 years old. In “My Pilgrimage to Non-Violence” King credits his time at CTS as crucial for expanding his horizons to find a way to dismantle segregation and Jim Crow in the South. Simply by defining his personal values, he defined the Civil Rights Movement. Purpose met its moment with the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and King lept into the national consciousness.

It was here in Philly and his other travels outside the South that King accomplished what I Corinthians 13:11 calls the “putting away of childish things,” growing from an immature understanding of the world into developing the expansive self confidence and spiritual fortitude needed to change it. In other words, MLK came to Philly and “killed the boy” inside just as Master Aemon demanded of Jon Snow when Jon sought his advice after ascending to Lord Commander in Game of Thrones. “Kill the boy, Jon Snow, and let the man be born.”

I Corinthians 13:11: When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

Divine order is revealed in the simple, natural structures of the universe. Purpose is found in the cracks between where “man-made” structures don’t align with truth and what’s right. And if you ever get confused about truth or purpose? Start with nature. The sun rises, seasons change, equality, etc. Participate in the cycles of the living and work your way out until you find the snag. King knew that all men are equal in the eyes of God, but saw that this world didn’t reflect divine order and truth. Finding his purpose in that misalignment, King set about fixing it. The divine simplicity in that choice leaps off the page and it drives me still.

I know that this country has enough resources that NOBODY needs to go hungry. We have everything we need to stop hunger, except the will. And that simply cannot stand.

With great power comes great responsibility and that kind of world changing power is much too great for the unrooted still operating from a childlike understanding. Our problems are too big and the stakes too high to think small or to be caught up in childish squabbles.

Everybody eats.

I have lots of pictures from on site and of the service project and I’ll post those separate. (You can also check my IG!) But, the keynote and the message deserved its own post! 💛