Over 500 people turned out for the ISAAC Banquet at the WMU Bernhard Center on May 6, to hear Dr. Rubén Martinez speak and to honor Lifetime Achievement awardee Rev. Robert Rasmussen (RIP) and awardees Northside Ministerial Alliance, Hispanic American Council, and Youth Violence Prevention leader Venessa Collins-Smith.

“We are here to leave a better social order than we found,” said Dr. Martinez, MSU professor of sociology and a nationally known scholar. “Government’s purpose is to promote the common good.” “Do we want to live under an authoritarian regime that attacks the free media, promotes fear and hate, threatens the justice system, and promotes militarization to protect its own wealth?”  “As members of a democracy it is up to us to ensure the course of humanity tilts toward a higher civilization.”

On this night, calls to action were given to further build The Beloved Community!