Northwest Missouri State University’s Student Activities Council (SAC) will host Chris Singleton, a former professional baseball player who now speaks throughout the nation about unity among races.

Singleton was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 2017 but has since embarked on a greater mission than hitting home runs. He is an inspirational speaker who has been featured by media outlets such as ESPN, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.

His mother, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, was murdered with eight others on June 17, 2015, at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, by a racist white supremacist. Singleton inspired his city and the nation by forgiving the young man who murdered his mother, saying, “Love is stronger than hate.”

Today, Singleton inspires audiences of all ages through teaching the power of forgiveness and his personal experiences of adversity at such a young age.

“We hope the audience gains perspective from someone who has been impacted by gun violence,” said Sydnie Platt, a junior Spanish education major from Gardner, Kansas, who serves as SAC’s director of lecture programming. “Chris Singleton will help the audience learn about his adversity and just how powerful forgiveness is. We hope that the audience is inspired to stand up and treat others the way they would want to be treated.”

Singleton’s lecture begins at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5, in the J.W. Jones Student Union Ballroom. The event is free and open to all Northwest students and employees who RSVP at this link.

Northwest’s Student Activities Council plans and administers activities for students to contribute to a more well-rounded social, recreational and cultural life on the Northwest campus and its community. For more information about SAC and its programming, visit www.nwmissouri.edu/getinvolved/sac/ or follow SAC on Twitter with @NW_SAC or https://www.facebook.com/NorthwestSAC.