Building Bridges of Peace

Participants of the Gandhi-King Scholarly Exchange Initiative at the American Center New Delhi. (Photograph by Rakesh Malhotra)

Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., who spearheaded the American civil rights movement, had never met Mahatma Gandhi. King first learned about him in 1949—a year after Gandhi’s assassination—but was deeply moved by his teachings of nonviolence as a tool of protest. It is this philosophy of nonviolence that young American and Indian scholars examine and study under the U.S. Department of State-sponsored Gandhi-King Scholarly Exchange Initiative.

Launched in 2022, the initiative brings together emerging young civic leaders from India and the United States to advance civil rights, social justice and inclusion on the local, national and international levels by exploring the histories and legacies of Gandhi and King.

The program offers 20 students from the United States and India an opportunity to spend time in an in-person academic residency hosted at Alabama A&M University, a Historically Black College or University and The University of Alabama, and then make a short trip to India to build leadership skills and study the origins of the nonviolence movement.

Timeless philosophies

Most members of this year’s cohort agree that Gandhi’s and King’s ideas of peace and nonviolence hold special relevance in current times.

“It would be a great error on anyone’s part to believe that Gandhi’s and King’s efforts and teachings are limited to their countries,” explains Shourjya Samant, an economics graduate from Kolkata and a Gandhi-King scholar. “Modern geopolitics and the involvement of states in doctrines of peace are greatly built on the principles of Gandhi. They become even more relevant now as we are in a new age of political movements with a re-realization of the political relations between citizens and the state,” he adds.

Both Gandhi and King believed in love and nonviolence—not just as means to a political end but also to serve communities and foster brotherhood. Moksha Maheshwari, a Gandhi-King fellow and commerce student, says their ideas of empathy and community welfare are more crucial now than ever to bind “a society that is becoming more detached with every passing day.”

In January 2024, the cohort spent its time in India studying the concepts of peace, conflict-resolution, leadership and community-building as it drew from the teachings of Gandhi and King and applied them to real life. “The specifics of Gandhian philosophy may no longer be applicable, and many of King’s targeted platforms were achieved by the civil rights movement, but their overarching principles continue to apply to the rapidly fragmenting world,” shares Jorge Koichi Ikeda-Sanchez, an undergraduate student at The University of Alabama. “The greatest and most powerful message of love and nonviolence continues to influence and shape the lives of many it touches, and we should not allow it to wane in the face of growing acceptance of political violence,” he adds.

The India visit

The two-week experiential learning program in India helped the exchange students to study the origins of Gandhi’s principles and how communities apply them in real life. “Here in India, we have learned about these messages [of love and nonviolence] by studying the history of their inception and how they were applied successfully in achieving self-determination by the people of the subcontinent,” says Ikeda-Sanchez.

For Samant, a greater understanding of King’s values of inclusion and brotherhood changed the way he perceived the world around him. “My experience with inclusive workspaces at the American Center in Kolkata showed that building inclusive spaces is achievable and not building them would lead to missing out on great talent,” he says. “Realizing the power of diversity and inclusion at a microscale gives me great hope of its capacity for change at the global level.”

Akelah Taylor, a sophomore at Shelton State in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, says her favorite part of the India visit was a trip to Gujarat Vidyapith in Ahmedabad because of the way it affected her understanding of central policies and their impact. “We were able to talk to student leaders from around the world and talk about each individual’s goals. This program allows leaders to meet each other and develop action plans that not only bring the world together but also improves the standard of living for the human race,” she explains.

Ajay Palle, a public policy graduate and Gandhi-King scholar from India, says his biggest learning moment was during the visit to the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama. “The Legacy Museum served as a poignant reminder of the United States’ complex past, offering a nuanced narrative that delved into both triumphs and challenges,” he remembers. “Witnessing how the museum engages with the legacies of the civil rights movement underscored the power of storytelling in promoting empathy and understanding across diverse perspectives. This experience has become a touchstone for me, highlighting the role of cultural institutions in shaping collective consciousness and fostering meaningful conversations about shared histories.”

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