Civil rights, social justice, and inclusion for all are core values of American society and U.S. foreign policy. It was these values that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the storied civil rights leader who was at the helm of the Civil Rights Movement in the post-Jim Crow era of U.S. history, lived and shared. And while the United States continues to both struggle and succeed, it joins a cadre of countries around the world in the same pursuit of civil rights, social justice, and inclusion for all.
Recognizing this international dimension, and inspired by and honoring the legacies of Dr. King and Mahatma Gandhi, the Indian civil rights leader who helped lead India to independence through nonviolent means, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs launched the Gandhi-King Scholarly Exchange Initiative in 2022 to engage emerging leaders from both the United States and India.
In the summer of 2022, the first cohort of Gandhi-King Scholars, which included 20 emerging young civic leaders, 10 from India and 10 from the United States, attended a one-week virtual program and orientation followed by a two-week in-person academic residency hosted at Alabama A&M University, a Historically Black College and University (HBCU), and the University of Alabama. While in the United States, participants attended lectures and leadership sessions, visited cultural and historical sites such as the King Center in Atlanta and the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL, and had a cultural fest.
Just last week, the Gandhi-King Scholars convened in India for the second portion of this people-to-people exchange and built on their academic curriculum from Alabama A&M and the University of Alabama that centered on the academic themes of peace, nonviolence, and conflict resolution, with a focus on building leadership capacities. In addition, the Gandhi-King scholars engaged in cultural diplomacy – learning and experiencing the local culture by visiting sites and local communities.
Original source can be found here.
