12/05/2018
*** ESSAY CONTEST FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS ***
MLK essay contest offers cash prizes for St. Joseph County high school students
The theme our celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday in Three Rivers is “Solidarity in Diversity.” Three Rivers Area Faith Community (TRAFC) invites St. Joseph County high school students to submit essays of 750-1,000 words on the theme, with a specific emphasis on stories about how you have experienced “solidarity in diversity” in our local community. The deadline for submissions is January 7, 2019 and they may be mailed to TRAFC at PO BOX 273, Three Rivers, MI 49093 or e-mailed to [email protected]. A panel of local judges will select two winners to receive $500 scholarships. Winners will be invited to receive their prizes and read their essays at the celebration on January 21, 2019.
Potential questions and themes to consider based on these quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr. PLEASE CHOOSE ONE QUOTE and ONE THEME to develop in depth.
QUOTES:
1. “I am cognizant of the interrelationship of all communities and states…Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly….Anyone who lives within the United States cannot be considered an outsider.”
— Letter from the Birmingham Jail, 16 April 1963
2. “…Because we can never again live without each other, we must learn, somehow, in this one big world, to live with each other.”
— Acceptance Speech for the Nobel Peace Prize, 10 December 1964
3. “All I'm saying is simply this: that all mankind is tied together; all life is interrelated, and we are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. For some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be -- this is the interrelated structure of reality.”
— Commencement Address for Oberlin College, June 1965
THEMES:
1. SOLIDARITY IN DIVERSITY: Solidarity is defined as “a feeling of unity between people who have the same interests, goals, etc.” Diversity is defined as “the state of having people who are different races or who have different cultures in a group or organization.” Diversity also includes differences of opinions and lifestyles and values. Are both solidarity and diversity needed to form thriving communities? Where do you experience evidence of both in our community? Where or how do you see solidarity and diversity coming together? How will you be an agent of solidarity in diversity in the coming year?
2. JUSTICE FOR ALL: If “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” is it also true that “justice anywhere threatens injustice everywhere?” Where do you experience justice and injustice in our community? What stories illustrate the relationship between justice and injustice? Can justice feel threatening? Why? How will you be an agent for justice for all in the coming year?
3. OUTSIDERS? Who are considered “outsiders” in our community? Why? What is the cost of excluding “outsiders” from the “single garment of destiny?” What would it take to create a community without “outsiders?” What can you do in the coming year to learn to know and welcome “outsiders” into the communities to which you belong?
4. INTERDEPENDENT DESTINIES? Is it true in our community that “we can never again live without each other,” and that “I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be”? Does this apply only to humans, or to other living things and elements in our community as well? In the coming year, how will you share your fullest potential with the fullest potential of others, especially those who are “different” than you?
High School and Home School Teachers: We hope that you will consider using this essay contest as part of your curriculum or encourage students in other ways to participate. Links are included to the sources of all quotes. Thank you.
