 Pleasantville, NY - “I don’t think we will ever be 100% free from racism,” wrote 11-year-old Imani Ford from Washington Irving Elementary School in Tarrytown who received honorable mention in the 6th annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. essay contest.
In the wake of the Jena 6 noose incident in LA and other hate crimes, feelings of conflict but ultimately hope surface in the writings of local students which were featured in a morning-long commemoration at Pace University’s Pleasantville Campus this past Friday.
The winners of the essay and poetry contest this year are all from Westchester. The middle school winner this year was Dominique Angell from the A.B. Davis Middle School in Mt. Vernon. High school winners this year were both tenth graders – Ese Olumhense from Walter Panas High School in Cortlandt Manor and Ronak Patel, from Lakeland Senior High School in Yorktown Heights, who received an honorable mention. Makeda Lewis, a freshman at Pace who is from New Rochelle, also wrote a winning poem.
The theme this year, which marks the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was “Are we ‘Free at Last;’ will/can we ever truly be?”
Reverend Darren A. Ferguson, founder of Luke 4:18 Ministries, delivered the keynote address at the commemoration. Ferguson has been featured on local and national television news programs and in print articles around the world, all noting his work as a youth advocate, preacher and singer/songwriter. Rev. Ferguson received the NY City Male Involvement Consortiums "Father We Cherish" Award in 2001, and he was honored as one of the top community and business leaders of the Tri-state area by Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce, the New Bronx Chamber of Commerce and the Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace Foundation.
The commemoration and essay contest are run by the Pace University Westchester Office of Diversity Programs (ODP) which aims to promote a productive educational and work environment that fosters and values equality, respect, human understanding, fairness and diversity.
For 101 years Pace University has combined exceptional academics with professional experiences and the advantages of the New York metropolitan area. A private university, Pace has campuses in New York City and Westchester County, New York, enrolling nearly 13,000 students in bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs in its Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, Lienhard School of Nursing, Lubin School of Business, School of Education, School of Law, and Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems. www.pace.edu
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