Today 4U features the winners of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. essay and art contest. Cash prizes of $35, $20 and $15 were awarded to the first-, second- and third-place finishers in each age division. This year's contest was sponsored by the Missoula Advocates for Human Rights, YWCA of Missoula, the University of Montana African-American Studies Program, and the University of Montana Excellence Fund.
First
I have a dreamI have a dream that everybody should be treated the same way.
I dream that color should not matter.
I know that guns can be ugly and people who misuse the rights to own one should never be given a second chance to own one again.
I believe that some drugs can be good for medicines, but that drug abuse should be stopped.
I dream of a time when little people don't have to be afraid of being touched wrongly by big people.
I hope for a world where kids don't have to worry about their parents beating them.
I like to dream of a world full of honesty and compassion.
I like to dream of a world absent of foster care, and parents had no problems.
I like to dream about a home that is always warm and there is always lots of food.
I dream that little kids would never have to cry themselves to sleep.
I dream that there are no bad dreams.
I dream of a world where there are no drunk people.
I know these dreams won't all happen but it sure is nice to dream about and maybe just change me.
KERSTINE HERNANDEZ
Grade 5,
Franklin Elementary School
Second
I HAVE A DREAMI have a dream that one day this nation will realize that through all of our wealth and fortune, there are still tons of people out there without any fortune. I for one think that someday, somehow, we will be able to fix that. Someday (hopefully soon) the unwealthy will have wealth! The unfortunate will have fortune! And someday the homeless will have homes. If we don't work at this goal, then our future will be full of grief and despair. But, if we do help them, we'll have a better, brighter future. I hope that someday someone will realize this, and they'll do something about it. I hope that someday this will come true, so that no one will have to suffer any more.
EMILY WARD
Grade 5,
Target Range School
Third
MY DREAMDr. King had a dream
Many years ago
I still believe in that dream
Don't you know
I dream that homeless people
Are not passed by on our streets
Through kindness and respect
This poverty we can beat
I have a dream that prejudice
Will no longer be
What we are on the inside
Is what matters to me
I dream of no pollution
Clean water and clean air
Animals are healthy
They roam everywhere
Today I reach my hand out
To help my fellow man
We're all in this together
We will say "Yes we can"
NICOLE BISSON
Grade 5,
Target Range School
First
DEAR DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.,I really honor your works you have done to help gain true freedom. They have surely made a difference to this very day. You have shown the very definition of bravery, even with laying down your life. You made a meaningful choice of working to help others in nonviolent ways. What with your bus boycotts, sit-ins, and peaceful marches on Washington, you got the attention of the entire nation. You saw black people struggle and without hesitation, you got things changed! Your first speech on the Constitution when you were 14, and your ride home afterward, must have started you up on your mission. Being forced to stand for 90 miles in the back of the bus, you felt very angry. The Constitution didn't apply to you at the time. Was that the beginning of your "dream?" When you said, "I have a dream ... ," you had a burning desire to see your dream realized. Your "dream" set many people to dream of greater things to come. That brings me to what has long since been my greatest "dream": to help those who have been going through a lot of suffering in Africa. There are many children orphaned, mainly because of the high number of AIDS viruses journeying around them. I've been considering becoming a researcher to try and find a cure for the AIDS virus. I feel you have inspired me to do more than I thought possible. Sincerely,
HANNAH STOCKS
Grade 8,
Washington Middle School
Second
Last year, in a galaxy far, far away(Louisiana specifically)
I was at my grandma's house.
She was watching golf on TV,
booing Tiger Woods.
Why?
He's black.
An hour later, I had a big fight with her.
"Why does that matter so much to you?" I shouted.
"What's so bad about black people?"
She had no answer.
And a year later,
I still have no answer to my question.
Is it fear of those different from you?
Is it anger taken out on the different people?
Or could it be a desperate need for a
scapegoat in these tough times?
Well, whatever it is,
I don't like it.
It's hard to believe
How much worse that was years before
when segregation was a way of life,
and those who daily enforce the law,
policemen and judges,
nightly donned white hoods and
"lynched" the blacks who fought back.
It may be better now,
but we still have a lot of work to do.
BETH COOPER-CHRISMON
Grade 7,
Sussex School
Third
MEN AND WOMENBoom.
Rush.
Slide.
All words of sports.
Why can't I,
a girl of age 13,
play football
with other guys?
Will I be bad
because I'm a girl?
Well, how will
you ever know
if you don't let me try?
Why can't he,
a boy of age 13,
come dance ballet with me?
Is it too light,
too graceful for a
man to do?
And if he does,
why do others laugh
and call him names?
This is our society
today. And if you let it be,
it will be in the future.
But I say, who cares if
you're a boy or girl.
We are equal, right?
So rise up,
and our future will be different.
Martin Luther King Jr.
was only one man,
and see what he did alone.
He changed the world
for whites and for
African Americans.
Someday I hope that
there will be another
Martin, hopefully me!
I hope to change
the people who play
many different sports.
That whatever you choose
will be wonderful
in other people's eyes.
If I can do just that,
imagine what we could
all do TOGETHER!
SVETA CHINIKAYLO
Grade 8,
Washington Middle School
First
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.It was a time of hatred and violence,
When segregation ruled the streets.
And then a man stepped forward,
Whom no one could defeat.
He saw how everyone was living,
And they were not united.
They believed in racial differences,
And so they were divided.
He watched Rosa Parks get arrested,
He watched many of his friends cry,
And because of segregation,
Many people had to die.
He believed that he could solve this problem,
Through love and happiness.
Though many people thought him wrong,
He showed them nonetheless.
He wanted a good life for all the children,
One where they were not divided.
He wanted them to live together,
In a country that was united.
He believed that this could happen,
And so he wrote a speech.
A speech about a dream he had,
That he would one day preach.
"I have a dream" is what he said,
Unity is what he believed in.
His dream could come true he said,
All they needed was to believe him.
KATIE ELIZABETH ENGWALL
Grade 10,
Frenchtown High School
Second
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.Martin Luther King was a distinguished man,
He loved without hating,
It was part of his plan,
He dedicated his life for an unselfish cause,
He was changing the nation
And fighting for just laws,
He never turned his back on someone in need,
He just wanted freedom
And some just couldn't see,
He wanted his kids to live in a nation of peace,
He wanted equal laws
Or no prejudice at least,
He saw the things that others couldn't,
And when some said it's hopeless, give up,
He wouldn't,
He fought for his dream and gave it his all,
He was loving and kind
He stood strong, brave, and tall,
He spread equality and freedom up until his last speech,
And he will always be remembered
By the millions he reached
MICHELLE AICHLMAYR
Grade 10,
Frenchtown High School
Third
LET FREEDOM RINGThere was a man named Dr. King
He wanted black rights and said let freedom ring
Blacks and whites were against each other
He wanted to unite them towards one another
Blacks on the streets would get sprayed and beat
They protested anyway to accomplish this feat
The cops sent out dogs and put them in jail
Still he held strong and didn't bail
He gave speeches to thousands of people
He taught everyone not just in his steeple
King told people to be kind and love both races
He was touching the whites you could tell by their faces
Then he went out to get some fresh air
Would people hurt him did anyone dare?
He fell and died from the bullet that struck
His time had come he was out of his luck
Have people learned from what he said?
A lot of them have but racism isn't dead
Martin Luther had a powerful dream
To live in unity and let freedom ring
CHRIS BICK
Grade 10,
Frenchtown High School
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