Under the tutelage of King and his father, Dr. Martin Luther King Sr., English was ordained at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church of Atlanta, Georgia, where he also offered the prayer at the 1968 funeral for King, the slain civil rights leader.

In 1972, English became pastor of the First Baptist Church of Charleston, West Virginia, serving for 21 years. During his tenure, English was a charter member of the Religious Coalition for Community Renewal, establishing low-income housing in downtown Charleston. He led the church in initiating the Black Heritage Cultural Series, the first such project funded by the West Virginia Arts and Humanities Council and the Division of Culture and History.

English has participated in several international delegations and was among the African American ministers invited to South Africa in 1989 by Bishop Desmond Tutu for the freeing of Nelson Mandela. In 2012, he received the West Virginia governor’s Martin Luther King Living the Dream Award for Peace.

A graduate of Morehouse College and Morehouse School of Religion, English has served as a university instructor of African American history and has produced numerous essays and editorials on race relations and social justice, particularly on the life and work of King.

At Quinnipiac, English delivered an insightful address on “Understanding ‘I Have a Dream’.” Interim Vice President of Equity and Inclusion David Fryson welcomed his friend and colleague to the Buckman Theater on the Mount Carmel Campus.

In his welcoming remarks, Fryson also asked Bobcats to consider one of the most poignant goals of King’s life, developing a “beloved community,” created by all people of the nation banding together.

“In a beloved community, the goals of integration, equity and inclusion would be accomplished as functional principles,” Fryson said. “The principle of inclusion is the idea that there is a place for everyone in our society, not just for the privileged.”

The day’s Critical Conversations Speaker Series event was designed to share the cultural and interactive dynamic of the Black church experience that nurtured King. The program featured student speeches, gospel and secular music by the Office of Inclusive Excellence Praise Team, and the powerful words of English.

English witnessed King’s delivery of his “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington, D.C. in August 1963.

“Ever since the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. became a national holiday, it has featured his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech,” said English. “But that speech has been abused and exploited by persons and politicians who have dared use it to promote their own agenda.”

English said those with intentions contrary to the purpose for which King gave his life have blatantly misused the famed speech crafted by King, whom he termed, “the drum major for justice.”

“The time has come to shift our focus from the dream King to the radical King,” said English. “It was the radical King that announced the Poor People’s Campaign at a staff meeting of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in November of 1967, the year before he was killed.”

Identifying economic inequality, poverty and war as the “three evils” of the American political system, King’s plan for the campaign was to bring an initial group of 2,000 people of color from southern states and northern cities to occupy Washington, D.C. to demand jobs and a fair minimum wage.

“King believed that African Americans and other minorities would neither have full citizenship nor economic security until some shift had been made,” said English.

He said the Poor People’s Campaign concept was a prelude to the call for reparations which has resurfaced in the work of Dr. Nikole Hannah-Jones, winner of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for the 1619 Project.

English said the identity of the radical King was inspired early on by the sermons of Dr. Vernon Johns, former pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, who once said, “If you see a good fight, get in it.”

However, the “inconvenient” spirit of the radical King also “…charted the path of an assassin’s bullet through his neck,” English said.

“In his last speech at Riverside Church in New York City, (King) identified those three evils of American society, and that is when I truly believe that the bullet of an assassin’s gun was aimed at his throat so that he would never speak again,” said English.

King’s speech, “Beyond Vietnam,” was delivered on April 4, 1968, exactly one year before his assassination.

While King was alive, English recalled how a reporter in an interview at Ebenezer Baptist Church asked, “Dr. King, what happened to your dream?”

“His response was, ‘My dream has become a nightmare,’” said English.

English also pointed to the thought leadership of Dr. Michael Eric Dyson. The sociology professor, author,and opinion contributor to The New York Times has said America has forgotten King’s radical legacy and has “… turned his fountain of rage into a faucet of polite protest.”

“Dr. Dyson urged a 10-year moratorium on the Dream speech so that America might pay attention to his more radical vision that confirmed those three evils,” said English. “So which King do we honor today? The dream King or the radical King? I know the radical King is to fix our focus on the magnitude of what he gave his life for, and to walk in King’s way.”