Filmmaker kicks off Black History Month

In commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s death, an award-winning filmmaker and author will relate the Civil Rights movement to today’s generation. Sponsored by the Multicultural Center, M.K. Asante, Jr. will lecture at Cal Poly from 7 to 9 p.m. tonight in the Performing Arts Center Pavilion in honor of Black History Month.

Asante’s talk is titled “I Am Because We Are: Dr. King, Our Generation and the Next Movement” and is free and open to students, as well as the general public.

“Asante said that ‘without perspective, the imposition of the European line as universal hinders cultural understanding and demeans humanity,'” said Danielle Johnson, a comparative ethnic studies senior. “Students need to hear a perspective like Asante’s so that, like he states, our generation can learn to interpret human history in a more global sense, embracing racial and cultural discourse, and stopping the perpetuation of racism in society.”

Twenty-five-year-old Asante is a college professor as well as the author of several books and articles, including “Like Water Running Off My Back,” which won the American Poets Jean Corrie Prize, and “Beautiful, And Ugly Too.”

He is also a social activist and is the national spokesperson for the African Diaspora Medical Project. This project is a nonprofit, medical-relief organization in Africa that develops health-related initiatives.

Asante is also the writer and producer of the film “500 Years Later,” which has garnered international acclaim. The film, an independent documentary, was released in 2005 and has won five international film festival awards.

The film deals with how Africans are still fighting for freedom today and is presented from the perspective of an African in a retrospective voice. It shows how many underdeveloped African nations struggle with crime, drugs, HIV/AIDS, poor health and education and poverty in general.

It was filmed on five continents and in more than 20 different countries.

Brenton Santos Smith, student coordinator at the center and a civil engineering senior, said Asante was asked to lecture because of his extensive research on multiculturalism, and because he can relate to and understand the perspective of today’s college generation.

“Education and cultural awareness is always a goal for the MCC. Hopefully, students will walk away knowing something new about Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement,” Santos Smith said.

Asante was born in Zimbabwe and raised in Philadelphia. He has lectured at more than 50 universities, including Dartmouth College, Cornell University, Howard University and Columbia University. He has also spoken in the Caribbean, Africa and Europe, and has appeared on several international radio and television programs as a guest.