RLC Network Michael W. Waters

Michael W. Waters

Dr. Michael W. Waters is a principal with MY Waters Consulting, LLC. A pastor, professor, author, activist, and social commentator, Waters’ words of hope and empowerment inspire national and international audiences. He has appeared on ABC Nightline, AJ+, BBC Newsnight, the Black News Channel, CBS This Morning, C-SPAN, Fox Soul, MSNBC Live, NPR, The NBC Nightly News, PBS Newshour, and VICE on HBO. He has also been featured or mentioned in/on The Associated Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Christian Century, CNN.com, Dallas Business Journal, D Magazine, Ebony Magazine, Epitome Magazine, Essence Magazine, Faith and Leadership, GQ Magazine, The Huffington Post, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, The Library Journal, The Los Angeles Times, Newsweek.com, The New Yorker, The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, Reading Religion, Reuters, SiriusXM, Sojourners Magazine, Texas Monthly, The Today Show, Yahoo! News, and The Washington Post among other media outlets. Waters has addressed such esteemed bodies as American Airlines, Duke University, Facebook, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the United States House of Representatives. A best-selling, national award-winning author, Waters is a two-time winner of the prestigious Wilbur Award for Stakes Is High: Race, Faith, and Hope for America, winner for Non-fiction Book, and For Beautiful Black Boys Who Believe in a Better World, winner for Youth/Children’s Book. For Beautiful Black Boys is also the winner of the Goddard Riverside/ Children’s Book Council’s Inaugural Youth Book Prize for Social Justice. Publisher’s Weekly calls his latest nonfiction book Something in the Water: A 21st Century Civil Rights Odyssey a “blistering critique of white supremacy and racial injustice” that “should be a wake-up call to Americans in general and the church in particular.” Kirkus Reviews calls his latest children’s book Liberty’s Civil Rights Road Trip, an early introduction to places, people, and events that transformed history, “a unique and valuable perspective.” He earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees with honors at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas where he founded the SMU Civil Rights Pilgrimage and currently serves as an adjunct professor and executive board member at the Perkins School of Theology. A former co-chair of Faith Forward Dallas at Thanks-Giving Square and board chair of the City of Dallas’ Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center, Dr. Waters is the board vice chair of Foot Soldiers Park and Educational Center in Selma, Alabama. A recipient of numerous honors and award recognitions, Waters has received special commendations from The White House and Special Congressional Recognition for Service and Leadership from the U. S. House of Representatives. He is also a recipient of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus’ Outstanding Texan Award, the DFW Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Community Leader of the Year Award, the Center for Theological Activism’s Pastor of the Year Award, the Dallas Peace and Justice Center’s Peacemaker of the Year Award, the South Dallas Business and Professional Women’s Club’s Humanitarian of the Year Award, the B’nai B’rith Harold M. Kaufman Memorial Award in Social Ethics, and SMU’s Distinguished Alumni Emerging Leader Award. Honored as a recipient of the Emerson Collective Fellowship, Dr. Waters is presently researching storytelling as pedagogy for civic action. Waters is married to Attorney Yulise Reaves Waters. They are the proud parents of four children.