They marched around the high school as Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” played over the PA system.
About 200 of them — students, teachers, and staff — from Shawnee, Lenape, Seneca and Cherokee high schools converged on Lenape High School for the event, a celebration of the life and legacy of King.
Former Lenape student and member of the African-American club Troy Riley started the march a few years ago to recognize the Civil Rights leader and to celebrate Black History Month.
King delivered his speech during the march on Washington in August 1963.
Junior Shayla Farmer, president of the Lenape High School African-American club, thinks the march is good because it brings people together. The 16-year-old said the symbolic march is an opportunity for students in other district high schools to get together.
“I hope that everyone takes away what Martin Luther King did for us and how we’ve come together as a country and as a people,” Farmer said. “Recognizing him as a person is really good.”
Brenda Martin-Lee, business educator and Seneca multicultural club adviser, said the turnout was “impressive” and commented on the speech.
“I think that speech says a lot about where they were at that time and where we are now — and it gives the students and staff an opportunity to stop and think about what the speech was about in terms of Civil Rights, not just for African-Americans, but for all people,” Martin-Lee said. “I think it’s great.”
Pier Carey, a math teacher at Seneca, is also co-adviser of the multicultural club there.
“It’s a really great way to get kids from all of our schools together to reenact what happened and reflect on what the speech meant and still means,” she said. “I think that we’ve come a long way and I think that we’ve achieved a lot through education, being able to integrate our colleges and universities.”
Carey said the election of Barack Obama to the presidency was another milestone.
However, she believes we have “a long way to go.”
Seneca senior Jillisa Roberts is president of her school’s multicultural club.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for students to actually hear the speech because we don’t get that opportunity often in high school. But I think it’s a good time for us to hear it and to take advantage of the opportunities that we’re given because of the speech,” the 17-year-old said. “I feel like we’ve broken down a lot of stereotypical boundaries and we’ve broken down a lot of boundaries that we weren’t able to do in the past — and we’ve made a lot of progress.”
Crystal Josiah, 17, is a leader in the African-American club at Lenape.
“I feel we all get along much better,” the senior said. “We can all be part of something without having to worry about our skin color.”
Shawnee High School Principal Matt Campbell thinks the march helps people celebrate differences and reminds students to judge people by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin, as King did.
“It’s nice to honor Dr. King for all that he has done — and I think it’s a good message for these kids to hear what he had to say and what it means today,” Campbell said. “I think there’s been a lot of progress, but I think there’s still a long way to go.”
Shawnee sophomore Lauren Coker, who is in her first year as a member of the multicultural club, said a good friend recruited her. Coker said she wanted to see schools with much more diversity than Shawnee.
“There’s been such a great improvement from his time to now,” the 16-year-old said. “There’s always going to be racism, but people have learned to overcome it.”
Lenape English teacher and African-American Club adviser Luis German said King is “inspirational” because he brought change.
“March for Martin is a good experience for the students to find out what exactly the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech is about,” German said.
Jenise Hillian, a special education teacher at Cherokee and adviser for the African-American club there, said the club is open to all people.
“It’s just a fun time for everybody and it’s a nice thing for those who are of African-American descent to get together and to share and to appreciate our culture,” Hillian said. “This generation doesn’t realize what the struggle has been for African-Americans and other people of color. They were born being able to do anything, go anywhere.”
She said African-Americans owe King a lot for advancing the Civil Rights of all citizens.
“I can’t imagine not being able to go to the same places I go to now, so I’m very grateful for him,” Hillian said. “I hope that the young people learn that it wasn’t always like this.”
