More than 70 K-12 students contributed to this year’s MLK Art and Writing Showcase, according to event organizers on Tuesday.
A slideshow of their work was shown at the 28th annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration on Jan. 20.
The students were asked to think about and respond to one of Dr. King’s quotes. “I never intend to adjust myself to segregation and discrimination. I never intend to become adjusted to religious bigotry. I never intend to adjust myself to economic conditions that will take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few,” he said in a speech in 1966.
Students created collages, wrote poetry and essays, sketched, drew, and painted in response.
“We can help finish King’s dreams of having a world where you are not judged by your skin color, but by your personality,” wrote Colton Robertson, a student at Havens Elementary.
Eleanore Bailey, a student at Wildwood Elementary, wrote, “You should always treat people fairly even if their skin is a different color than your skin.”
Hunter Fasteau, a student at Piedmont High School and co-president of the African Affinity Student Union, composed a poem, including the line, “True freedom is our ability to express ourselves, to live as all that we are and wish to be, and to allow for all people to be treated equally.”