“It’s All Up to You”

At the age of 98, civil rights leader Grace Lee Boggs still has a lot to say. And on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, she came to Grinnell College to say it.

For more than six decades, Boggs has been a leader in various social justice movements, sparking reform around labor, women’s rights, civil rights, and environmental justice issues. On the day of President Obama’s second inauguration, the longtime activist shared words of wisdom and inspiration at Grinnell.

Boggs made the trip at the request of her old friend and fellow Detroiter Kesho Scott, associate professor of sociology, to celebrate a holiday Boggs originally opposed.

An overflow crowd packed Rosenfield Center’s Room 101 for the wide-ranging presentation, which covered not only Martin Luther King Jr. Day and social justice, but also militarism, education, and the need for a new kind of revolution.

Among the highlights of Boggs’ talk:

“I was not involved in the campaign to declare Martin Luther King Jr. Day a holiday. But I’ve come to realize that this is the one day where we can recognize the need to look in the mirror and talk about ourselves.”

“We need to be visionary organizers. We can’t just protest and expect those in power to do things for us. We have to be doing things for ourselves and envisioning the kind of future we want to create.” 

“We can no longer think of revolution in terms of seizing power. … We have to begin reimagining revolution, we have to begin reimagining work, we have to begin reimagining education — because those are the seeds by which society lives.”

“This is a very important time. It’s a very inviting time. It’s a very difficult time. … It’s a time for us to grow our souls. We’ve got to get beyond growing our economy and think about growing our souls.”

“The 21st century can be a fantastic century. I won’t be around to ponder it much longer. It’s all up to you.”