Olmos gives energetic keynote

By Elizabeth Kassab

Daily Staff Reporter

Pushing the podium out of his way, activist and actor Edward James Olmos made full use of Hill Auditorium's stage in a powerful performance yesterday morning during which he imitated everyone from sleepy students to Spanish explorer Hernando Cortez.

Olmos, the memorial lecturer in the University's 14th annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium, drew an overflowing audience.

"He is the only person of color who has been given the right to be called a hero in this nation - ever," Olmos said of King. Olmos touched on the symposium's theme of commitment and renewal, saying that the day served as a focus point to renew commitment to the civil rights movement.

"The struggle you begin tomorrow is the epitome of what this day is about," Olmos said, referring to the case brought against the University's Law School for using race as a factor in admissions, which goes to trial today.

In the welcoming remarks of the event, University President Lee Bollinger said when the lawsuits were filed, the University committed itself to the belief that affirmative action was a "core, fundamental principle of the University of Michigan and of higher education" and still stands by that commitment.

Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Lester Monts, who also introduced Olmos, said of King, "If we no longer hear his voice, we are not listening."

Olmos noted troubling trends in American society during his speech, which was peppered with Spanish and occasionally interrupted by applause.

"We still think that Jesus Christ has blonde hair and blue eyes," Olmos exclaimed.

"This guy lived in the Mediterranean, not, you know, Sweden."

To illustrate his point, Olmos led Bollinger and Monts to center stage. After pinpointing the Mediterranean's location as Northern Africa, Olmos dismissed Bollinger because he "doesn't look like he came from the Mediterranean," leaving Monts to portray Jesus.

Jesus' Caucasian depiction is one instance of a prevalent problem in today's society, the tendency to overlook minorities' contributions to society.

Minority children grow up without knowing that their ancestors played vital roles in American development, Olmos said.

After an informal poll revealed about 100 doctors, hundreds more college graduates and even more students were in attendance, Olmos challenged the crowd to name one Asian-American who could be considered an American hero. Less than a dozen hands went up.

"You need courage in this country to answer that question," Olmos said.

It isn't that minorities have played an insignificant role in American history; it's that their accomplishments are not recognized.

Olmos said this is one reason why it is important that Martin Luther King, Jr. is recognized as a national hero - King gave minorities the right to publicly denounce these misconceptions.

MARJORIE MARSHALL/Daily

Actor and director Edward James Olmos pretended to sleep while delivering his keynote speech in Hill Auditorium yesterday afternoon.