Answering Dr. King’s Call for Global Citizenry, Peace, and Justice in Embattled Times
Global Citizen, LLC
We help you develop inclusive leadership skills and effect organizational and social transformation for a better world.
"If we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective."?
As we honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy, we can reflect on his sermon from 1967 and its resonance for all of us who are committed to global citizenry, peace, and justice. Dr. King's call for human allegiance that transcends identities, cultures, and faiths and a world perspective that rises above national borders, delivered in my birth year, particularly aligns with Global Citizen, LLC’s and my raison d'être and our vision, values, and commitments.
My family has a long history of living in different countries and engaging in intercultural exchange. During his gap year, my son, Jaidan Turner-Lowry , participated in a social justice program in Guatemala that included dialogue with indigenous civil rights activists and living and volunteering in rural villages with host families who did not speak English. My brother, younger sister, cousins, and I participated in AFS International’s year-long student exchange program and hosted numerous AFS students who became beloved family members. AFS was founded by U.S. volunteer ambulance corps members serving in Paris who, after surviving World War I, were driven to end the horror of world wars by fostering intercultural exchange. AFS programs are designed to bring together people from different cultures and countries to create beloved families and communities, and in doing so, advance global citizenry and promote world peace.?
After high school, I joined AFS-The Netherlands, participated in a Nederlands taalkamp (Dutch language camp) with students from all over the world, and then went to live with my Dutch host family and attend Havo 4 (senior year of high school). I immersed myself in home, school, and community activities with my family, friends, and teachers and made myself speak only Dutch to gain fluency. In the beginning, I often felt alone, lost, and like a child trying to express myself with a completely inadequate vocabulary. My experience that year, with all of its joys, challenges, and deep and abiding relationships, was foundational to my identity formation, and years later, the founding of my firm, Global Citizen, LLC.?
My identity, values, and lived experiences as a global citizen inform my firm’s commitment to advance equity and justice and our work to develop leaders’ and organizations’ global intercultural competence. Global Citizen, LLC’s Global Competence Framework and curriculum define global competence as the constellation of
within an individual or a system that enables effective intercultural and cross-country interactions and partnerships that effect organizational and social transformation and result in mutually-beneficial and empowering outcomes for the good of all. (?2014 Global Citizen, LLC)
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As I reflect on what it means to be an ethical global citizen who advances equity and justice for the good of all, the cruel contradiction of the 47th U.S. presidential inauguration being held on MLK Day could not be more stark. Immediately upon taking office, President Trump signed executive orders to revoke federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) guidelines, proclaim that the U.S. government will recognize only two sexes (male and female), carry out mass deportations of peaceful immigrants seeking asylum, end birthright citizenship, withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord, withdraw from the World Health Organization, and pardon 1,500+ insurrectionists who committed treason when they stormed the U.S. Capitol that fateful January 6th, to name only a few.
On this MLK Day, I envision Dr. King’s arc of the moral universe bending towards justice over the Capitol and White House for the next four years. We must join together and redouble our commitment to fight these threats to health, human rights, economic well being, democracy, and ethical global engagement and continue to advance peace, equity, and justice by:?
Global Citizen, LLC remains unwavering in our commitment to provide strategic, equity-centered consulting, coaching, training, and transformation solutions to develop inclusive excellence leadership skills and strengthen leaders' capacity to effect organizational transformation and social impact for a better world.?
Contact and collaborate with us at: [email protected] and www.globalcitizenllc.com.?
Connect with us at: LinkedIn (Katherine), LinkedIn (Global Citizen, LLC), Instagram, and Facebook.
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