On Jan. 25, the Carnegie Mellon community came together for the 2023 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Remembrance Celebration and Keynote Lecture(opens in new window) featuring Majora Carter, a MacArthur Fellow, Peabody Award-winning broadcaster, real estate developer and urban revitalization strategy consultant. Hosted by the Office of the Vice Provost for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer,(opens in new window) the event filled the Cohon University Center's Rangos Ballroom with students, faculty and staff interested in hearing about Carter's career in urban revitalization, particularly in the South Bronx of her New York hometown.

In discussing her approach to uplifting communities, Carter shared, "It really is about creating a beautiful place that people feel good about being in so they want to reinvest (in the community) not just economically, but socially and spiritually." She spoke about what people want to see in their own communities saying, "It needs to have the kind of commercial spaces that make you feel good about being in them."

Throughout her keynote, Carter shared stories about impactful projects she has led, ending on a reflective note. "Dr. King was talking about racial injustice. He was also talking about economic injustice ... I share that because I really do believe that we are at a point in our lives where we've seen what the status quo does to communities, just to the low-status communities," said Carter. "We can be done with building tributes to all of our collective failures when we instead could literally be building the monuments to hope and possibility. That's to show that we don't have to move out of our neighborhood to live in a better one. And I believe that so fiercely I did write a book about it."

Carter is quoted on the walls of the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture: "Nobody should have to move out of their neighborhood to live in a better one," which is also the subtitle of her 2022 book, "Reclaiming Your Community."