VOICES OF VISION: MLK Jr. honored through song, story and rhyme

WASILLA — When Yorel Simmons and his five siblings first moved to the Valley from West Oakland, Calif., 10 years ago, they were among only a handful of African-Americans in the Mat-Su Borough School District.

And it didn’t take long for Simmons to witness first-hand the intolerance and ignorance of a couple of fellow classmates at Finger Lake Elementary School.

Even after one boy on the playground referred to him as “that brown boy” and the principal held an assembly to educate students on the importance of racial diversity and acceptance, the message failed to sink in for some.

“Another boy came up to me and called me the ‘N’ word,” Simmons, now 19, told about 150 people gathered Monday at Valley Performing Arts Center for the Ninth Annual Mat-Su MLK Jr. Foundation Celebration. “I took a swing at him and I ended up doing some time for that — two days of in-school suspension. It was really hard for me to understand how someone could say that in 2001. It was a pretty big shock for me.”

Simmons, a graduate of Colony High School who is now enrolled at Mat-Su College, was one of several Valley residents who gave presentations on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the “My Dream for the Next Generation” program at VPA.

Joining him were Foundation President Melvin Sage-El II, Colony High singers Oreanna and Shani Powell, Dr. Bruce Rowell of First Baptist Church of Palmer, Mat-Su Borough Schools Superintendent Kenneth Burnley, and 21 students from Sherrod Elementary School who acted out Dr. Seuss’s “The Sneetches” story.

Simmons said his dream — like MLK’s in the 1960s — is that one day people will not be judged by their skin color, social status, or economic status so that America can become the best nation it can be.

He said later when reached at home Monday that he also had a run-in with a student at Colony High during his junior year when a boy came into the gym locker room and casually dropped “the N bomb” in front of him.

“He said it like there was nothing wrong with it,” he recalled. “I asked him why he said that and he just played the whole ignorant game.”

After he informed the school principal, the issue was resolved, but he didn’t feel the student learned much from the situation, he said.

“It didn’t seem like he understood or cared too much,” Simmons said, adding that he imagines that boy was raised in an intolerant family.

Breaking through such attitudes passed down from generation to generation can be difficult, but is worth the effort, many at the celebration agreed.

Sherrod Elementary drama and art teacher Annie Williams said she feels teaching children to be accepting of others at a young age is the key.

“Dr. Seuss’s story of the Sneetches is perfect for teaching tolerance of others who are different from you,” Williams said after 21 of her students skillfully acted out the famous rhyme pitting the star-bellied Sneetches against those with plain bellies.

“When the Star Belly Sneetches had frankfurter roasts or picnics or parties or marshmallow toasts, they never invited the Plain-Belly Sneetches,” the story goes. “They left them out cold, in the dark of the beaches. They kept them away. Never let them come near. And that’s how they treated them year after year.”

At the end of the tale, after a “very peculiar machine” added stars to the plain bellies and then removed them from the star-bellied and on and on they went to create mass confusion, the Sneetches finally realized they are all the same inside.

Sage-El II reminded the crowd that the Civil Rights Movement championed by Martin Luther King Jr. and others was not only for African-Americans.

“The Voting Rights Act was for everybody,” he said during his invitation for others in the community to join the Mat-Su MLK Jr. Foundation. “Everybody benefitted from the Civil Rights Movement.”

Burnley, the first African-American superintendent of Mat-Su Borough Schools, pointed out that history is full of characters who have lifted us up and seen us through difficult times. He cited Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, President John F. Kennedy, President Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King Jr.

One of the best lessons he learned, however, was when he witnessed a group of 12,000 teenaged athletes at the International Youth Olympics in Moscow several years ago put aside their fierce rivalries and come together to exchange their e-mail addresses and their nation’s pins.

“They truly just wanted to get to know each other,” Burnley said. “If we could let them solve the problems of the world, I’m sure they’d do a better job than many of our world leaders.”

For more information on the Mat-Su MLK Jr. Foundation and its $1,000 student scholarships for high school seniors, call 232-5201 or send e-mail matsumlkjy@gmail.com.

Contact K.T. McKee at kate.mckee@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.