Coretta Scott King speaks to students from the U.S. embassy school in New Delhi, India, January 1969. Civil Rights activist Andrew Young is at far right.
By Melanie Duronio ’26
Staff Writer
Throughout her life, Coretta Scott King wholeheartedly devoted herself to her politics. As an activist, King supported many social issues including the civil rights, feminist and queer rights movements. Understanding the interconnected nature of oppression, she believed that it was important to support and work alongside all minority groups in order to reach equality. She continued to choose self-love and kindness while fighting fiercely for an equal world for all.
The DEI committee held the virtual event “Be A Revolutionary Like Coretta” on Jan. 27 and highlighted King’s values and work. The event was part of the DEI committee’s annual Series of Racial Justice and Reconciliation, which centers around the work done by Martin Luther King Jr. and his family. Through this series, the DEI committee intends for attendants to reflect on their work and legacy productively.
“What Martin Luther King’s family wanted for Martin Luther King Day was everyone taking a day on instead of a day off,” Nohelya Zambrano Aguayo ’21, DEI LGBTQ+ resource coordinator, said. “A day on to engage in giving back to your community, volunteering somewhere local [and] having in-depth conversations about race and racial healing.”
The invited speaker for this event was Lutze Segu, a self-proclaimed social justice doula. Her role combines her positions as an activist, social worker, organizer and racial justice facilitator. She specializes in working with Black and brown youth, specifically those who are queer and transgender, and aids organizations through anti-racist workshops designed to uproot white supremacy in the workplace.
This is not Segu’s first time speaking at Mount Holyoke, having attended Black feminist healing workshops on campus before. Most notably, Segu speaks at the annual DEI event BOOM! and her lesson has become a signature aspect of that event for students.
“As an organizer and an activist in Florida, I look up to your work,” Stephanie Gomez ’23, DEI Fellow and event organizer, told Segu. “I’ve just learned so much from you.”
Segu divided King’s work into six main points that connect back to concepts of social justice today, beginning with the assumption that members of leftist movements are exclusively young. Many, like King, remained committed to social justice work well into adulthood. As a college student, King began fighting for civil rights and organizing coalitions alongside her husband. The older she became, the more progressive and inclusive her politics and community were.
“Living a revolutionary life in your youth and becoming a revolutionary elder and eventual ancestor is possible,” Segu said. “Youth and youth culture do not own the revolution.”
Segu also spoke about the need to make this work a part of one’s daily life. “If you call yourself a progressive, you must ask yourself, what are you progressing towards if you politically identify as leftist and are still moving?” Segu asked. “If you politically identify as leftist, are you still moving towards the left? Or are you [stagnant]? [...] How are you growing this politic and making it practical in your daily life?”
King allowed her life to become transformed by her politics, making a lifelong commitment to fighting for all forms of human rights through coalition building. Coalition building is an intersectional practice that requires groups to actively collaborate with mutual respect and understanding in order to achieve a common goal. King practiced this throughout her work by supporting many different marginalized groups. During her speech at Atlanta Pride in 1996, King acknowledged that the oppression faced by LGBTQ+ Americans was similar to that of Black Americans. According to Segu, the speech demonstrated that in a white supremacist society, violent tactics used against one group will often be used against others to keep the dominant group in power.
“I know that the United States is deeply polarized, and coalition building is complicated and often heartbreaking work. However, organizing multiracial coalitions is still noble work worth us practicing and learning how to do better. It ain’t liberation if everybody can’t benefit from it,” Segu said.
King also emphasized love and honesty, two traits that were deeply rooted in her politics and beliefs. Her love for people, justice and humanity are what made her reach out to others and speak against injustices such as the Vietnam war, apartheid and the Iraq war.
“I think the biggest value that I take from [King] is to be a lifelong student,” Zambrano Aguayo said. “Sometimes people can use [social justice] as an ego thing, but [King] really was like, ‘No, I am a student because I’m trying to learn, and I’m trying to be honest about what I don’t know.’”
King’s legacy is one built on lifelong intellectual and political growth and love for one’s self and others.
“She was a [regular] human being who took justice, human rights and her evolution seriously. This is available to us. This is available to all of us if we choose it,” Segu said. Speaking to the future, Segu stated. “We who labor for social justice can and will win. A new world is possible and I am excited about it, even though I know I won’t see most of it. But truth be told, I am impressed by what I have witnessed thus far in my short life and the possibilities I see on the horizon.”
Segu will return to Mount Holyoke during next year’s DEI event BOOM! on March 28.