|
Don't have an account yet? You can create one. As a registered user you have some advantages like theme manager, comments configuration and post comments with your name.
|
| |
Local News: Civil rights leader inspires youth
When Mayor David Miller
asked 300 students yesterday
who would help him honour
Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr. “by judging people by
their character, not by the
colour of their skin,” 300 students
raised their hands. So
did their teachers
“Is that everybody?” Miller
asked Grade 4 and Grade 5
students at Thorncliffe Park
Public School. He proclaimed
it Martin Luther King Jr. Day
in Toronto.
King, who would have
turned 77 Sunday, won the
Nobel Peace Prize and helped
mobilize the United States
civil rights movement. He
urged people to fight discrimination
by coming together,
rather than using violence.
King was assassinated
in Memphis, Tenn. on April
4, 1968.
Toronto Police Chief Bill
Blair spoke to the students
about King. “We will not resort
to violence. We will not
degrade ourselves with hatred.
Love will not be returned
with hate,” he said, repeating
King’s words.
Thorncliffe Park Public
School has 1,685 students
from 70 countries who speak
47 languages.
“I think if Martin Luther
King was alive today ... he
would be so proud of this
school and all of you,” Blair
said. “The boys and girls of
Thorncliffe Park Public School
have always been a wonderful
example of how people
from all over the world can
come together and live together
in peace.”
Young people can play a
role in making Toronto safe,
Blair said. “It’s really important
that you look out for
each other, that you treat
each other with respect.”
U.S. Consul General Jessica
LeCroy spoke about King’s
principle of “somebodiness,”
which celebrates that all
people deserve dignity.
“I’m somebody. The mayor
is somebody ... Your principal
is somebody and you’re
somebody,” LeCroy said.
Staff Sgt. Heinz Kuck read a
book to the students, Martin’s
Big Words, by Doreen Rappaport,
about how King encouraged
people to embrace diversity
rather than discriminate.
Grade 5 student Shamir
Pira said King is one of his
heroes. “He is the one who
taught me if you are different
you are not inferior.”
TORSTAR NEWS SERVICE
Posted on Wednesday, January 18 @ 00:00:00 UTC by jcohen
|
|
"Civil rights leader inspires youth" | Login/Create an Account | 0 comments |
| The comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content. |
|
|
No Comments Allowed for Anonymous, please register |
|
| |