Andrew Wong '12 and Ben Smith '13 converse during the public debate.

The MLK public debate, a yearly highlight on the BQDC debate schedule, attracted a large audience for an afternoon of charged, impassioned discourse. Morehouse sent representative Matt Jonson to collaborate with Bates debater Virginia Flatow ’13 in defense of the motion “This house believes that violence is a justified response to oppression.” Debating for the opposition, Andrew Wong ’12 and Ben Smith ’13 countered in defense of non-violent means of political action. Smith and Wong cited the hypocrisy that arises from the use violence to secure rights while infringing upon the rights of others. Several audience members treated the audience in a packed Benjamin E. Mays Center to several rousing floor speeches. Audience participants included students, members of the Brooks Quimby Debate Council and the Reverend James Lawson, an advocate of non-violence and one of the keynote speakers who participated in Bates’ celebration of the MLK holiday.