A Message from NJCU President Andrés Acebo in Observation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Dear NJCU Community,

Today, we pause to honor the life and legacy of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a man who refused to allow the limits of his moment to contain the boundlessness of his moral imagination. Dr. King called us not merely to admire progress but confront contemporary obligations. His dream was never meant to be framed, archived, or recited as ritual. It was meant to unsettle us, to ignite us, to summon us toward the hard and necessary work to bend the long arc of the moral universe with our own hands, choices, and courage. His vision endures because it requires something of us. Our conviction, our conscience, and our willingness to stand firm in the face of injustice. 

We honor his memory not by sanitizing his struggle, but by remembering that his example was forged in confrontation with systems that resisted change at every turn. He challenged the nation to look honestly at itself and to see both its promise and its contradictions and to choose, again and again, the better angels of its nature. To walk in his footsteps is to acknowledge that progress is neither inevitable nor accidental. It is the product of disciplined hope, collective action, and moral endurance. 

On this day of reflection and service, let us recommit ourselves to the unfinished work he entrusted to us. Let us widen the table of opportunity, deepen the well of empathy, and build community rooted in dignity, fairness, and belonging. Let us understand that the dream is not a distant aspiration but a daily responsibility that is measured not by how loudly we quote Dr. King, but how faithfully we embody his vision and principles. And may we, in our time, rise to meet the call he issued in his: to transform our pain into purpose, our divisions into solidarity, and our highest ideals into lived reality. Not someday, but now. 

Yours in service,

Andrés Acebo
President
New Jersey City University