World-renowned peace activist the Rev. Joan Campbell spoke to about 100 students, faculty members and Gainesville residents at Santa Fe College’s Fine Arts Hall on Friday night.
Humanities and foreign language department chair Bill Little gave an introduction before Campbell took the stage. He presented a two-minute video featuring students and faculty of SFC speaking about the Charter for Compassion in 17 languages.
In her speech, Campbell, who co-authored the charter, explained how Karen Armstrong, another co-author, came up with the idea.
In 2002, the Chautauqua Institution covered aspects of Islam for nine weeks.
After its members encountered prejudice in the study due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Armstrong decided that something needed to change. The charter was created, and its focus was compassion.
“The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religions,” she said Friday, “ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves.”
Campbell also recounted her experiences working with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. decades earlier.
“His witness to nonviolence was life-changing for many and in my own case, completely changed my life,” she said. “He was, in my life, the essence of a compassionate life.”
Campbell’s speech concluded with a prayer she wrote. She also asked the audience to sing along to a part of “America the Beautiful.”
SFC President Jackson Sasser was invited on stage to become part of about 90,000 people and organizations that have signed the Charter for Compassion.
“I think this has been a signature moment in the life of this institution,” he said.
There was a 15-minute Q-and-A portion afterward.
One attendee asked Campbell whether she believed King thought he would die in his work.
She said yes.
The night before he died, King told her and the rest of the group that if he did not make it, they should continue the fight for civil rights, Campbell said.
“The hardest questions that reporters always asked me was if I thought he had to die in order for the civil rights movement to make the progress it made,” she said. “My answer was yes, his sacrifice is what saved it, I think.”
Afterward, the audience stepped out to have a meet-and-greet with Campbell.
“We’re in a very divided time, so my hope would be that somehow by understanding the Charter of Compassion,” she said, “they would see the possibility of people working together, instead of being in their own little turf and always working against each other.”
