Editor’s note:This is the winning entry in theintermediate school division of the Brookings Human Rights Commission Martin Luther King Jr. essay contest. The other winning entries at the high school and middle school levels werepublished earlier this week in the Brookings Register and on the Register’s website.
Intermediate school category first-place winner
Stanturf Dwomoh, fifth grade, Camelot
Parent: Francis Dwomoh
Solving community problems the Dr. King way
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a really great leader who helped fix some big problems, like making racism better, but there is still work to do in our cities, communities, and schools. Let me tell you about a couple of things we need to work on.
First up, bullying is a big deal because it messes up peoples lives. It can make them super sad or anxious and sometimes even make them think about really bad stuff.
Bullying can even make people stop liking the things they love, like playing sports. I have seen how bullying has affected people in my life, and it makes me sad. My sisterused to get bullied by her classmates because of her skin color. They made comments telling her that her race did not belong in the school. It became so bad that she felt unsafe and sad to go to school. If I was able to, I would have talked to the bullies about having sympathy and love for others even if they are different from you. I want to teach the people in my community that our differences make us all unique, so it is never OK to put anyone down. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. So, instead of fighting with bullies, we should try to speak to them and help bullies understand how their actions affect those around them.
Dr. King would have solved it by talking it out peacefully, so I think my school and community should try that too.
Dr. King also said, Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. This reminds me of the issue of climate change. Climate change is a big problem that affects everyone, everywhere. Even though our town might not be the only one dealing with it, it is important for us to do stuff to help out; like building more energy-saving homes, planting more trees, encouraging more recycling, and discouraging people from starting wildfires during the summer. I want to encourage my community to live a more sustainable life, so that our Earth, our only home can last longer. This is very important to us young people because the future belongs to us and our adults today are only borrowing the planet from us. Dr. King would say we should act locally first to fix things globally. So, our town can be an example for others to learn from.
I want the people in my town to live like Dr. King lived. We should try talking things out when it comes to bullying and also do our part for the planet. Through this, we can make our community and our world a better place!
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