Dave Ensberg-Kleijkers

Dave Ensberg-Kleijkers was the chairman of the Martin Luther King Foundation and of the Zonova Foundation, where he is responsible for 19 primary schools in Amsterdam Zuidoost. He holds various social positions in the field of education and inclusion. Social justice, equal opportunities, and connection are central to his work. 

The Martin Luther King Lecture on October 9, 2025, ended with the farewell of Dave Ensberg-Kleijkers. He had been involved with the Martin Luther King Lecture Foundation since 2012, the last five years of which were as chairman. From the hands of Margrethe Jonkman, President of the Executive Board, he received a statuette of Martin Luther King. 'He was my parents' hero,' he said to loud applause. 'I will continue the decolonisation of schools,' he said. 'We are going to name a school after Rosa Parks. That's where this statue is going to have a place.'

This Martin Luther King statue has a history: it was placed next to the statue of Anton de Kom, the Surinamese writer of the nove; We Slaves of Surinam (1934) and resistance fighter in WWII. After half a year, the MLK statue disappeared, and was found months later in the storage of the municipality of Amsterdam South-East. Now it has been passed on to Dave, who has a strong connection with this borough.

The annual Martin Luther King Lecture is in memory of his work and for inspiration.
 The theme of the 2025 Martin Luther King lecture was Radical Social Justice. Watch the keynote speaker Nani Jansen Reventlow, Founder of Systemic Justice: Each of us can be the revolution (YouTube). Or read the keanote here.