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| 2010 Oratorical Winner Wows Gathering At Glastonbury MLK Celebration! |
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The Martin Luther King Day Committee continues to outdo itself every year. It was clear last Monday that the planners wanted quality over quantity, when their events were as thought-provoking as they were entertaining .
Sankofa Kuumba, a cultural arts consortium based in Hartford, lead the presentation with a drum call and dance performance that had the audience not only answering back, but stomping their feet as well.
That stomping was put to good use in a workshop, later on, that invited kids of all ages to some basic drumming (using buckets and paint stirrers) and dancing lessons taught by the group’s Jean Davis and EvaE Peart.
Joel Adifon, a 17-year-old Northwest Catholic student, stirred the crowd with his King-esque speech entitled “Faith’s Role in the Life of Today’s Youth.”
The speech, which Adifon penned himself, told of how Adifon used his faith to comfort a teen girl who had previously teased him about his religion.
“She was a popular girl,” he said, “but, she was hiding behind a mask. She went to the craziest parties, hung around with the wrong crowd, and got her heart broken into pieces by many of the wrong guys. One night, she called me, even though we weren’t friends, and told me about how low she had fallen . I could have hung up on her in revenge for all the mean things she had said to me. But, I had to ask, ‘is that what my faith wants me to do?’”
After a long conversation, the girl was convinced that she had been living her life in the wrong way. She is now “transformed,” as Adifon said, “and filled with a new purpose.”
WVIT News Anchor and Glastonbury resident Gerry Brooks, who emceed the presentation, said Adifon looks and sounds like a leader.
“I’ve got a list the length of my arm of some of his academic awards,” Brooks said. “His career goal is to become a medical doctor, but the future is unlimited . This young man will be able to do whatever he wants.”
Adifon won the Brother Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Young People’s Oratorical Contest, sponsored by the BSL Educational Foundation, Inc., and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
Adifon was inspired to write the speech when he previously attended a public high school, and others picked on him for his faith, but then he realized that faith was an asset, and not something to feel bad about. He said originally he did not include the story of the girl, keeping it general, but that part has received the most response.
The Connecticut Center for Non-Violence led two workshops – one for children and the other for teens and adults – that discussed Kingian principles.
Executive Director Victoria Christgau said that King, as a holistic philosopher , understood that what affects one group, affects all of that group.
“What we have to do is involve everyone – be inclusive [in the solutions],” she said, adding the example that violent activity in Hartford cannot happen without affecting people in Litchfield County.
Christgau said King had been arrested several times for breach of peace, but it was in order to shed light on the tension. An example would be everyone on Rosa Parks’ bus asking why desegregation is necessary, if everyone is content .
“We call that ‘negative peace,’” she said. “It’s not peace with justice. That tension is undermining, but how do you bring it up? It takes courage.”
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