(Editor’s note: Due to inclement weather, Ijeoma Oluo was not able to attend the event in person but was still able to deliver her message via video call.)
The keynote speaker for, 37th annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast, Ijeoma Oluo is a Seattle-based writer, speaker, and self-proclaimed “internet yeller.” Oluo’s social work has been published in The Guardian, Esquire, Washington Post, ELLE Magazine, New York Times, and NBC news. Oluo has been featured on the Daily Show, All Things Considered, and BBC News. Oluo has published three books: So You Want to Talk About Race (#1 NYT bestseller), MEDIOCRE The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America, and Be A Revolution: How Everyday People Are Fighting Oppression and Changing the World- How You can Too.
Oluo was named one of the Most Influential People in Seattle by Seattle Magazine, one of the 50 Most Influential Women in Seattle by Seattle Met. Magazine, one of The Root’s 100 Most Influential African Americans from 2017 to 2018, a recipient of the Feminist Humanist Award in 2018 by the American Humanist Association, Harvard Humanist of the year in 2020, the Media Justice Award by Gender Justice League, and the 2018 recipient of the Aubrey Davis Visionary Leadership Award by Equal Opportunity Institute.

Oluo’s speech detailed the importance of fighting injustice together and avoiding feelings of isolation.
“You will be told that you are extreme, that no one feels as you do. You will be kept from others who might feel the same. You will be worn away. Gathering will be discouraged, if not being criminalized. All of this to ensure they don’t realize what every cell in your body knows. You are not alone. You have never been alone. “
Oluo empathizes, the inherent interconnection of all people, and that survival is a collective effort and not an individual pursuit. She explains that humans are similar to other species, which thrive through mutual dependence and collective effort.
“I was in conversation with my friend Richie the other day, and he said something that really stuck with me. He said, ‘We are not individuals,’ and this is something that I say quite often, and it is a foundation of a lot of my work. But he took it even further. He said, ‘We are not individuals, even within ourselves. We are a collection of organs and blood and bone, 37 trillion cells.’ He continued to explain that each one of those cells had these needs that must be met. They need food, they need water, they need each other.”
Oluo explains that oppressive systems set out to isolate individuals, but history has shown us that people will find one another for support. The fight against injustice will bring us together because it is deeply rooted in us to find justice.
“And so, I ask you, in this time when there will be so many forces seeking to keep us apart, seeking to make us feel alone, seeking to make our cries for justice seem weird or extreme or inappropriate, know that we are doing what we have always done. What we are supposed to do. We are caring for each other. We are staying connected to each other. And with that we will not only survive, but we will thrive.”
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