Portrait of Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, a Black man smiling broadly in front of a colorful background. He has closely trimmed hair, and a closely trimmed beard, and is wearing a dark grey suit, a white shirt, and a light pink tie with small black dots.
Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, president & CEO of the Children’s Defense Fund, will speak in Crete at 7 p.m. April 4.

ˮ welcomes Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, president and CEO of the (CDF) as the guest speaker for the university’s eighth Robert L. Polk Lectureship on Race and Social Justice. Wilson will present his lecture, “If Not Now, When: Raising democracy…for the first time” at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 4 in on ˮ’s Crete campus.

The event is free and open to the public. The lecture will be followed by a Q&A session with the audience.

“We’re very excited to bring Dr. Wilson to ˮ. He brings with him an incredible amount of experience in community and child advocacy,” said Dr. Marilyn Johnson-Farr, Dwight Porter professor of education and Polk Lectureship committee chair. “Dr. Wilson will speak on how our changing demographics in the United States present to us a hope that we will be able to truly create a multi-racial democracy in this country. As an educator, I look forward to the knowledge that our students and ˮ community will take away from his presentation and how they will use it to shape that future.”

The Polk Lectureship is one of the avenues by which the ˮ community has important discussions surrounding race, racial healing and racial equity.

Wilson’s lecture will include some of the findings from the CDF’s soon-to-be-published State of America’s Children 2023 Report, looking back on the impact of the pandemic and addressing the future in an increasingly diverse United States. More and more young Americans are Black or Brown, Wilson said, and realizing that dream of multi-racial democracy will require bold generational commitments to racial justice and child well-being.

Wilson has led faith-based child advocacy programs and organizations for more than a decade. He has served as pastor at Saint John’s Church (The Beloved Community), a multiracial congregation in St. Louis, and president and CEO of Deaconess Foundation, a faith-based philanthropy for child well-being and racial justice in the city. During his time at Deaconess, the foundation constructed the Deaconess Center for Child Well-Being. Saint John’s also hosted a Freedom Ride to Ferguson and other mobilizations following the killing of Michael Brown, Jr.

Later, Wilson was appointed co-chair of the Ferguson Commission, which released the “Forward Through Ferguson: A Path Toward Racial Equity” report. He currently serves on the boards for Duke Divinity School, the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Xavier University, a master of divinity from Eden Theological Seminary, and the doctor of ministry from Duke University. Wilson is also a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity and Sigma Pi Phi fraternity.

The CDF envisions a nation where marginalized children flourish, leaders prioritize their well-being and communities wield the power to ensure they thrive. Wilson is additionally board chair for the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) and the Forum for Theological Exploration (FTE).

“Every lectureship is a celebration of Dr. Bob Polk’s enduring impact on our communities, and I’m deeply grateful that Dr. Wilson will join us in elevating Dr. Polk’s vision of a world with more racial harmony and equity,” said Luis Sotelo, vice president for the division of diversity, equity and inclusion.

The Robert L. Polk Lecture on Race and Social Justice was established in 2016 to bring high quality, high-impact speakers to ˮ in the fields of diversity, equity and social justice. The goal of the lecture is to provide an avenue by which important discussions surrounding race — racial healing and racial equity — can be established and sustained.