MLK assembly unites Carrillo campus with its return
By Alexa Rios, A&E Editor
At Maria Carrillo High School, it is a long-standing tradition to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday ever since retired teacher Bridgette Mansell started it in around 2006. This year, the celebration had an assortment of speeches, a dance, and poems commemorating him. Highlights included senior class president Joy Maitiro’s moving poem, “Speak Up,” and Principal Monique Luke’s speech.
The assembly started off with a video slideshow of the Civil Rights movement. Later in the video, snippets of recordings of some of the speeches MLK made, including his famous “I’ve been to the mountaintop” speech, played across the huge screen. This set the tone as powerful for the rest of the assembly and reminded the school of the accomplishments we have made this past century. The pictures shown during the video were moving, depicting segregation for people of color as well as those that were jailed fighting for basic human rights in the 1950s and 1960s. As the music became more intense the photo pace transitioned along with it, showing slides more quickly, which left a lasting impression. After the video introduction, Maitiro came out to present her poem, a lovely piece about the triumph of love. The first line reads, “There are over seven types of nouns in the English language and only one never fails to captivate me…love.” Through this line, she wanted to give a clear message on the meaning of love, and how everyone should express that to one another, no matter what. Her inspiration to make this poem was from an MLK quote, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of convenience and comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." Maitiro said her main theme for this poem was, “Love is speaking up for other people.” She believes that the spirit of MLK means “being bold and being courageous.”
Afterward, Luke spoke about being born two years after MLK was assassinated and how she was surrounded by reminders of him. She said Malcolm X, JFK, and Robert F. Kennedy were all assassinated similarly to others throughout the years when fighting for civil rights. Luke went on to talk about growing up in an environment where minorities didn't have civil rights, and that the message she got early on was that people that looked different weren’t treated as human. An impactful quote stated was when she said, “People died so people who look like me and have differences were able to sit at the same counters in restaurants.”
MLK continues to impact communities around the world and the lives of our fellow Pumas. The assembly was a fantastic way to honor such a revolutionary figure who fought for what he believed in just as we students of Carrillo should.
As MLK said, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that."