IMPACT Club shows support of Martin Luther King Jr. Day: By Brandon Goodman
This discrimination
Stems from an
intimidation,
Which helps to break
apart this nation.
It shouldn’t matter if I’m
American or Haitian
Yet somehow it does.
Somehow what I look like
Is more important than
who I am.
Everywhere I get stares
Sometimes because of
what I wear,
And then you dare
Step to me
And have the audacity
To disrespect my
nationality.
The thoughts that slither
through your brain
And drain down to
your lips
And find an escape
through your mouth
Will cause me to look at
you in a way that
lets you know
I ain’t playin’.
And before you know it
On the ground is where
you’ll be layin’.
You respect me.
I respect you.
How dare you stereotype
me
With the people you see
on T.V.
That is not who I am,
Which I thought you
would figga’
Without the pulling
of a trigga’.
Now that I think about it,
I would never let you bring
me to that level,
For me to lie with the devil
And spend my life
as a rebel.
Your words are not worth
going to jail
Because that would mean
I failed
At being confident
With being me.
You tell people beware
of me
Simply because you are
scared of me.
Your … correction.
Our discrimination
Stems from an
intimidation,
Which helps to break
apart this nation.
January 28, 2004 | 189 views
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Members of the IMPACT Club once again honored Martin Luther King Jr. Day by making their annual trek to participate in Rome’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day March and by conducting the Martin Luther King Jr. chapel service the following Wednesday.
Their presentation during chapel was well received. Students appreciated the completely student-led service. “I liked the fact that the kids shared how they feel about all that Martin Luther King Jr. did and stood for, rather than trying to teach us about him,” Austin Rieley, senior, said.
Senior Brandon Goodman’s poem was the liveliest of the presentations, as he shared a poem he had composed about the way discrimination makes him feel. Ecko Steadman, also a senior, pointed out to students that there is still much work to be done in breaking down barriers, giving the example that many students still sit together by race and culture in the dining room.
IMPACT stands for Inspiring Minds to Promote Appreciation of Cultures Together. Led by adviser Skip Saunders, the club's goal is to educate and support students and faculty in their efforts to encourage living in harmonay and appreciating diversity.
