New York City’s largest public celebration in honor of iconic civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. returned to BAM for the 38th year. This annual tribute invites us to reflect, recharge, and support one another as we carry on Dr. King’s relentless pursuit of equality and justice.

Reginald Dwayne Betts, a poet and lawyer was the inspirational keynote speaker. A 2021 MacArthur Fellow, he is the Founder and CEO of the Freedom Reads, an organization that opens libraries in prisons, transforming cellblocks into Freedom Libraries. For over twenty years, he has used poetry and essays to explore the world of prison and the effects of violence and incarceration on American society. The author of a memoir and three collections of poetry, Betts transformed his latest poetry collection, the American Book Award-winning Felon, into a solo theater show. He has been awarded a Radcliffe Fellowship from Harvard, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Emerson Fellow at New America, and a Civil Society Fellow at Aspen. Betts holds a J.D. from Yale Law School.