Work to be Done

By James Baratta ’22, February 2, 2022

Nicole LaFave ’07 delivers powerful address as college’s MLK Week Keynote Speaker.

Nicole LaFave ’07 asked attendees to consider if they were really living Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream.

(Photo by James Baratta '22)

Last week, as part of Ithaca College’s campus-wide Martin Luther King Jr. celebration, Nicole LaFave ’07 delivered a keynote address to the IC community.

LaFave, who is the assistant director of Diversity Alumni Programs at Cornell University, began her talk with what she called the question of the night: “Are we living his dream?”

Her powerful address continued, unpacking one’s own proximity to privilege and the challenges that grassroots organizers may face as they attempt to dismantle systemic and structural racism in their communities and elsewhere.

“If we want to dismantle systemic and structural racism, we have to analyze our own proximity to privilege and power as we seek to define liberation and freedom,” she said.

A co-founding member of Black Lives Matter Ithaca and member of the Ithaca City School District Board of Education who has extensive experience working in the Ithaca community, LaFave reflected on her involvement in Black Lives Matter and highlighted the ways in which class has led organizers to develop varying strategies of achieving equity, justice, and Black self-determination.

“We must decide what our individual and collective responsibilities are to upsetting the status quo — what we each have to give up in order to reset the social order of justice.”

Nicole LaFave ’07, assistant director of Diversity Alumni Programs at Cornell University

“As a collective, we found ourselves at a crossroads largely because of class,” she said. “Everyone at our table had their eyes on the prize, but we saw it differently.”

LaFave offered advice to organizers seeking to strengthen solidarity at the grassroots level, while encouraging them to think strategically about how to function as a group.

“It is critical to hold your comrades, allies, community leaders and elected officials accountable, to hold space for yourself and also understand when you feel like you're compromising your own values to create space for actions and behaviors that violate your own boundaries as an organizer, and as an individual,” she said.

“If we are constantly staring into the eyes of the sun, we will never know how beautiful it feels to sit still and feel the sun's warmth as we shimmer and its divinity,” she continued. “These moments of rest provide us with the shift to capitalize on moments and light the torches of social movements.”

She went on to tell attendees that the Black Lives Matter movement has been central to elevating King’s message because it has sought to dismantle the systems and structures that wreak havoc on the lives of Black people, queer people and BIPOC communities.

“Having diverse alumni such as Nicole LaFave to speak regarding their experiences and lessons learned are impactful to remind the students and the community that their impact goes beyond the campus itself.”

Angélica Carrington, director for the Center for Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity and Social Change (IDEAS),

At the conclusion of her impactful address, she circled back to her original question, and provided an answer.

“We are not living his dream because this dream has evolved to keep up with the evolution of the oppression, marginalization and structural racism that exists,” she said. “We must decide what our individual and collective responsibilities are to upsetting the status quo — what we each have to give up in order to reset the social order of justice.”

Angélica Carrington, the college’s recently appointed director for the Center for Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity and Social Change (IDEAS), said that the message behind LaFave’s address resonated deeply.

“She is a leader in the Ithaca College and local community, she's contributed to both entities in different ways, therefore her message was meaningful and impactful,” Carrington said. “Having diverse alumni such as Nicole LaFave to speak regarding their experiences and lessons learned are impactful to remind the students and the community that their impact goes beyond the campus itself.”