An author, activist and champion for “justice and belonging” will join august company this week when he is inducted into a group of scholars who embody the values of an icon for peace and civil rights.

Ty-Ron Douglas, the associate athletics director for diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging at the University of California Berkeley since 2021, is to join the Martin Luther King Jr 2025 Collegium of Scholars at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, this Thursday.

The accolade comes at a difficult time for an organisational ethos aimed at promoting fairness and inclusion but now under heavy fire from the Trump Administration at institutions across the US.

Asked about opposition to programmes generally known by the acronym DEIB, Dr Douglas said: “I think that light shines the brightest in darkness. I do not operate through a lens of fear.”

Dr Douglas described himself as “assignment-driven” and saw his induction as another opportunity to make a difference.

“I believe that each of us is generationally significant and, as such, we have generational influence,” he said.

“When I think of my journey and my village, which is definitely grounded in Bermuda and Bermudians, I think of the opportunity to have a generational influence not just in Bermuda but across the world.

“Opportunities like this create a platform to do better work.”

Dr Douglas previously served as a tenured associate professor of educational leadership and policy analysis at the University of Missouri.

He recalled the spotlight of national attention that was trained on the Missouri campus in 2015 after racial tensions and anti-Black rhetoric boiled over, with many students offended by what they saw as a weak response from university leaders.

“I remember being interviewed for Sports Illustrated,” he said. “I said it like I felt it, that I was experiencing something on the local level that the nation was experiencing nationally.“

When interviewed in 2015 by The Royal Gazette, Dr Douglas acknowledged “problematic” incidents but said there was hope implicit in people getting the chance to make their voices heard.

Dr Douglas took a similarly optimistic view of the political controversy and cultural division in the US over diversity and inclusion.

He said: “All that’s happening now is not a surprise to those of us seeking to do work in the realm of justice and belonging.

“For those of us who are committed to it, it’s really not about the pendulum of popular or political opinion. It’s about doing the right thing for the right reason at the right time.”

Dr Douglas graduated from the Bermuda College in 1998 and earned his doctorate on “teaching with an emphasis in cultural studies”.

His scholarship and published works include Border Crossing Brothas: Black Males Navigating Race, Place and Complex Space, which drew on his research into Black Bermudian men and their educational experiences ranging from school to their neighbourhoods and sport clubs.

Dr Douglas’s academia has explored the intersection of identity with communal and political spaces and the sociocultural factors behind topics ranging from leadership and sport to education — boosted by a grant from the National Collegiate Athletic Association for a study of Black male athletes.

He noted the “proliferation of violence that has definitely impacted Black men in Bermuda” from the time he left the island in 2008, which affected his research along with his drive to “seek to find solutions to what I see as emerging issues”.

He is the author of five books and more than 40 scholarly articles.

“I’m excited about what I’m currently working on — in particular, ensuring that athletes understand their genius,” he said.

His work, which he said crossed lines of education, culture, faith and media, includes teaching at Berkeley this summer on the final lectures of Harry Edwards.

Dr Edwards led the creation of the field of the sociology of sport and was one of the architects behind a 1968 protest by Black athletes at the Olympic Games in Mexico.

Dr Douglas said: “He has entrusted me to help communicate his work to another generation.”

Dr Douglas’s induction into the Martin Luther King Jr Collegium of Scholars at Morehouse College, which takes place at noon Bermuda time on Thursday, was driven by another eminent academic, based at Morehouse.

He said: “This induction is organised and led by Dr Lawrence Carter. This award is something that he has spearheaded based on his relationship with Dr King and his commitment and values, to highlight scholars and theologians who are walking in a similar path and seeking to make an impact on this generation.”

The two happened to meet at Morehouse, a leading historically Black liberal arts college that was attended by Dr King, about 12 years ago during “one of those moments”.

Dr Douglas happened to pass through Morehouse during a general conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Atlanta and a concert was held at the college’s Martin Luther King Jr International Chapel.

He recalled: “I just happened to meet him at an event. He is one of those people you just don’t forget. He said something like, ‘I feel like I have met a future leader of the human species’ — that’s how he talks. He is a visionary who affirms visionaries.”

He said Dr Carter had been “following my journey”, leading to his induction.

Dr Douglas said his goal was to replicate the achievements of past masters such as Dr Carter and Dr Edwards in the present day.

“My goal is to continue working but also seeking to scale it in a way that connects to young people,” he said.