Williams focused on the large percentage of single parents and broken families among minority groups, as well as the fact that 60 percent of people in prison are minorities. Williams added that King would be further outraged at the portrayal of minorities in the media.
"[Imagine] he switches on MTV, and he sees these young black men, shirtless, bragging about how many times they've been shot and about going to prison like it's a rite of passage," Williams said. "He sees young women whose only role is to be there semi or completely naked."
Williams said King would likely confuse BET!, the Black Entertainment Network, with a Ku Klux Klan channel due to the often explicit language like "the n-word" and degrading images of minority women.
"Dr King would stand up screaming: 'What's going on 40 years later!'" Williams said. "He would say 'You think of me as some type of living spirit and think I'm dead " but I look at you and you're the living dead. You lack passion; you're not willing to challenge the status quo, or take a risk and stand up for what's right.'"
Shifting the focus of his speech to education, Williams described his visit to a Minnesota high school and called attention to the fact that 80 percent of the most accomplished students were young women, pointing to the widening "achievement gap" between young women and young men, a radical change that has occurred over the last decades, he said.
The upcoming presidential election is also a manifestation of the sweeping changes happening in society, according to Williams.
"A black man and a woman are running and a Mormon is also in the race," he said. "This election will tell us about who we are, about our struggles and divisions."
In an interview with The Dartmouth, Williams said he wanted to tell Dartmouth students to be "players, not onlookers -- especially since you have the benefit of a Dartmouth education." Williams added that he hopes Dartmouth students will think more about their actions, especially when listening and dancing to music with degrading lyrics.
"Think about the signal you're unwittingly sending about yourself, about your racial and sexual attitudes," he said. "There is a strong push in a negative direction, you have to push back!"
Williams said he believes modern young adults idealize past great changes in American society, such as the civil rights movement, but they tend to forget that the struggle continues 40 years later.
When asked by an audience member whether he believed the problem with young adults was apathy, Williams said, "Not at all, I find a great belief in idealism; however there is reluctance to insist on change. Because it is scary, because it means taking a risk."
Williams, who was a reporter for the Washington Post for 21 years, is currently a political analyst for FOX television and a senior correspondent for National Public Radio. He has authored six books and has won several awards for writing and investigative journalism, as well as an Emmy for scripting a television documentary.
The Montgomery Endowment was established in 1977 by Kenneth F. Montgomery '25 and his wife in order to enrich the academic experience at Dartmouth. Montgomery Fellows are individuals that have distinguished themselves in many discipline. The fellows visit the College for varying lengths of time and engage in academic discourse with Dartmouth students, faculty and local residents.
