Springfield Alliance for Equality and Respect

City of Springfield's 10th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Contest and Celebration

January 21, 2008

In preparation for Dr. King's national holiday, and for the 10th consecutive year, Springfield students studied the history of this great humanitarian and honored Dr. King by submitting theme-based entries of essay, poetry, art and speeches.

During the Student Art Exhibit, which opened the day's celebration, over 300 pieces of birthday cake were distributed along with coffee, juice and other baked goods. Chilean classical guitarist, Ricardo Cardenas, performed while community members viewed the displays of student tributes to Dr. King. A program of speakers, student awards and entertainment followed the Art Exhibit and began with a community tradition of singing "Happy Birthday - Dr. King" and led by Agnes Stewart Middle School librarian, Paulette Ansari.

Jeff Mather, Principal of Springfield Middle School, presented opening remarks as the host for the celebration. Marc Mullins of KMTR (CH16) was the emcee and left no doubt in anyone's mind that we all knew where we would be on this day next year.

Mayor Sid Leiken delivered a welcome speech and also presented each of the two student speech advisors, Mark Laakso of Springfield High School and Marie Coonradt of Gateways, with City of Springfield 'Martin Luther King, Jr." street signs that were prepared for a new roadway in Springfield. A very special presentation and moment for Springfield.

School board members, Jonathan Light and Al King presented student cash awards to 40 students whose entries were judged the previous week by community members.

Keynote Speakers were Springfield High School juniors, Savannah Martin and Cassie Soucy, who took top awards for the speech portion of the MLK student contest which was held in December under the direction of Mark Laakso and Marie Coonradt.

Springfield Alliance for Equality and Respect, lead organizer of this celebration, awarded community member and school district curriculum coordinator, Paul Weill, with a SAfER Human Rights Leadership award for his continuing work for inclusion and equality.

Entertainers: Mark Harris, singer-songwriter of LCC whose voice captured our hearts, performed a special commemorative song he created for this Springfield celebration. Student groups - Rockin' Amigos, Children's Community Choir and Thurston High School's 'High Energy' provided the audience with a beautiful blend of voices which magnified and mirrored our desire for the 'Beloved Community' Dr. King often mentioned.

This year's program also included an acknowledgment segment where 50 businesses, agencies and volunteer groups were publicly acknowledged for their years of supporting Springfield's Celebration.

Special MLK commemorative gifts, DREAM KEEPER, black and white coffee mugs were presented to supporters by the MLK Planning Committee.

Thank you all!
Keeping The Dream Alive here in Springfield,
The Springfield 2008 MLK Planning Committee

Letter to Editor published by the Springfield Beacon, January 30, 2008

During Springfield's Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration, students, once again, opened our eyes to the kind of world they want to live in and to the deficits that still surround (bankrupt) us today.

In honor of Dr. King, students submitted essays, poems, artwork and speeches. Some expressed their desire for that 'Beloved Community' which Dr. King so passionately spoke of, He gave us a joyful and elevated image to reach for. Some students shared their pain of being set apart by poverty or by racism. Some experienced the power of speaking out for themselves, for others and for the environment.

A few challenged readers by including the questions:
"Where are the voices?" "Who will speak out?"

After reading several essays and poems, I realized that some of the students wrote with the hope that 'someone' would hear their pleas and 'fix' things. Others wrote with more urgency for the suffering to stop.

How will our community respond to their concerns and experiences of discrimination, inequality, hunger, poverty, and their desire for a healthy environment and for peace not war?

Can we shed our party loyalties, corporate loyalties and whatever else separates us and work together to finally make Dr. King's Dream a reality? Let's unite as Springfielders, join with others who are already working on some of these issues and be prepared to help many more students and families as the economy continues its downtrend.

Please do not remain in denial or require more study, more proof, and more pain - or wait for certain winds to change - before helping to set the course that will alleviate poverty and lead to the equality and peace which Dr. king sought 40 years ago and which our children are still seeking now.

Respectfully submitted,
Elaine Hayes
Springfield Alliance for Equality and Respect (SAfER) and Springfield 2008 MLK Planning Committee

SHARING THE DREAM

Published: January 22, 2008 09:11AM

SPRINGFIELD — Monday marked the 10th anniversary of a celebration that started small but has blossomed into something that hundreds of Springfield residents and school district employees hold dear.

At least 400 people — many of them students, parents, teachers and other school employees who had the day off as a holiday — filled the Springfield Middle School gymnasium Monday afternoon to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose image and words were evoked in nearly 600 submissions of student essays, poems and artwork lining the perimeter of the room.

Students dominated the event, from the keynote speakers to the three youth choirs that performed.

“It’s a great day,” said Springfield Mayor Sid Leiken, a longtime regular attendee, noting that the celebration serves to highlight and embrace the city’s growing diversity. “What I really like about it is the focus is on the youth.”

The event, which always has highlighted the student writing and art contest, was the brainchild of a handful of district employees, including Nancy Bray, who coordinates services for students learning the English language.

It’s grown every year since, organizers say, becoming a magnet for school and community leaders alike.

“We have formed our own family on this day, to celebrate a birthday,” said emcee and KMTR news anchor Marc Mullins, explaining that most people in the room know exactly where they’ll be at the same time next year.

Both keynote speakers — Springfield High School juniors Savannah Martin, whose essay took first place, and Cassie Soucy, who placed second — used as their jumping-off point essays they wrote in their Advanced Placement English class. Teacher Mark Laakso instructed his students to focus on a 1967 speech by King, “Beyond Vietnam,” in which he criticized the war and the diversion of funds and attention from anti-poverty programs. Laakso wanted them to explain how the speech reflected King’s commitment to speaking up for the weak and the voiceless.

“Once we got thrown into it, we were pretty excited,” Martin said.

Both girls said they couldn’t help but draw parallels between the Vietnam War and the war in Iraq. Their speeches offered harsh criticism — well-received by many in the crowd — of the United States’ policy and military presence in Iraq.

“(King’s) speech would not be out of place if he spoke it right here today,” said Martin.

Sprinkled throughout the two-hour event were student performances — the Rockin’ Amigos, a student group led by Riverbend Elementary teacher Bryan Reed; a combined choir of district students and members of the Oregon Boys’ Choir; and High Energy, a vocal ensemble from Thurston High School.

Mark Harris, an ethnic studies instructor at Lane Community College, was given the task of writing and performing a commemorative song — an assignment that initially gave him pause. But his pretty-yet-pointed melody, which touched on King’s reference in his “I Have a Dream” speech to “the bank of justice” having insufficient funds, drew big applause and a standing ovation from many in the room.

Harris noted that, unlike many of the young people in the room, he remembered when King was assassinated.

The day after, he reported to his first-period history class at his Los Angeles middle school.

“(The teacher) said he was glad Martin got killed because he was a troublemaker,” recalled Harris, who was the only black student in the class.

Also at Monday’s event, the Springfield Alliance for Equality and Respect, a co-organizer of the event, awarded its annual Human Rights Leadership Award to district curriculum coordinator Paul Weill.

Bruce Smolnisky, director of education, credited Weill with strengthening the district’s commitment to diversity through various means, including boosting cultural competency training and assisting the school-based multicultural liaisons on projects.

Weill recalled why he went into teaching.

“Societies, communities, schools are judged not by what they do for the average and the privileged, but by what they do for those in need,” he said.