Local student wins MLK essay contest

Dear Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,

As we have just entered the year of 2019, all the trials and tribulations that you and other civil war leaders fought against for us to be free are sometimes transparent.

There are days when citizens of the African American Community are still fighting for their lives to understand why the color of their skin doesn’t make them as equal as any other race.

As a seventeen year old, watching the news or reading articles in the things that we so sadly deal with on a day to day basis, makes me realize that your dream of equality and justice has not only been pushed to the side, but also unfulfilled. Though we live in a new time, we as a community still face the same injustices from The Civil Rights Movement to Segregation and more.

Dr. King, you had a dream that your “four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” And still today, mothers and fathers have to overly protect their children from the social injustices of this cruel world we live in.

Everyday a young and even old African American is losing their life to gun violence and unlawful dealings with the police and forces of government. We fight a battle that seems ongoing. One that we cannot win. Times have not come to a change. We deserve more. We deserve to be treated equally and live in civil manner. Times have not come to a change.

For all the fallen in years past, Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, Mike Brown and so many more, Black Lives do Matter. We matter. Though we have all fallen short as a nation to fulfill such a blessing as a dream we can do better and we need to do better. As a nation we have to come together and understand each others pain. Go through the struggles and tribulations together. Dr. King, you deserve to have your dream completely and utterly fulfilled. All the things you did to get us to a place of peace, has somehow fallen short.

We as a community have to come together to fight and live as one nation. No separation will ever result in full power. In the year of 2019, we all have to come together as one to fulfill the vision of what the world should be. In 2019, Black Lives will Matter. In 2019, we will overcome all obstacles and do what is right for our nation and the people of the black race. Your dream will be fulfilled.

Sincerely,

Amyia Crowder

11th grade student at Cedartown High School