WILMINGTON- MLK Voice 4 Youth; An Opportunity to be Heard
January 22, 2020
“I think Dr. King would be so impressed by this group and the people who have been willing to dedicate their time to this vision!”
By: Briana Harris | @brikeey
This past weekend Delawareans gathered at the Baby Grand in downtown Wilmington for the 2020 MLK Voice 4 Youth, a writing competition that asks contestants to focus on and reference Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s lesser-known speeches in order to create and portray a message of their own. The competition challenges high school students to address the past and present-day notions of social change, and to use their talents to speak upon their personal dreams and expectations of today.
Now in its fifth year, the talent has reached new heights.
This year seven talented acts made it through as finalists, Fanta-Jamila Barry of St. George’s Technical High School, duo Emily Chmiel and Lucia Gotera of the Charter School of Wilmington, trio Messiah DeSisso, Stephanie Tanoh, and Bwembya Tembo of St. Andrews School, Lindsay Fomundam of Early College High School, Da’Jour Jones of Cab Calloway School of the Arts, Rishima Mall of the Charter School of Wilmington, and Nyani Scott of Dover High School.
This year’s judging panel was just as diverse and was comprised of all types of people from writers and politicians, to organization leaders and sports officials like Delaware Bluecoats Community Development Associate, Aris Watson. When asked what he’d be looking for as a judge, he responded with “while judging, I’ll be looking for creativity and whether or not the contestant has control and can engage with the audience. But even with that said, the biggest criteria will be the overall message being conveyed.”
And actually, that seemed to have been the true purpose and driving force behind the entire event; to allow a safe space for individuals to come together and express themselves in hopes of effectively conveying a message near and dear to their hearts; just as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did during the United State’s Civil Rights movement.
Founder of MLK Voice for Youth, Jane Rubini explained; “The truth is, this idea all started 8 years ago when I, unfortunately, lost my son. After talking to his friends, I learned that he was a great listener and that from simply listening, he was able to help his friends when they were going through rough times. This was all happening around the time of the Ferguson case when it seemed like everyone was in an uproar. It was then that I realized that all of the yelling and screaming was happening because people felt as though they were not being heard.”
Hundreds attend the 2020 MLK Voice For Youth at the Baby Grand on Sunday, January 19, 2020, where twelve Delaware high school students competed for the grand prize of two thousand dollars.
The idea was that if people could listen to one another for understanding instead of for the preparation of rebuttal and retaliation, it could help make society’s difficult conversations more bearable.
“I think it’s a bit ironic that I created a speech competition to encourage people to listen…but nonetheless, I decided that I could help this communication issue from within, and create a contest that would give the youth of my own community a platform to be heard. I linked Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to this event because he is one of the best activists and public speakers of our time, Rubini continued.”
In fact, this year one of Delaware’s very own leaders in activism made an appearance at the MLK Voice 4 Youth finals.
I’m happy to be here as we’re leading up to MLK Day. It’s such a great touchstone for me to remember why I do what I do as a legislator, said Elizabeth ‘Tizzy’ Lockman, MLK Voice 4 Youth judge, and District 3 State Senator. Legislation is still new to me as my career history has mostly been rooted in advocacy and activism. Unfortunately, my new schedule doesn’t allow for me to spend as much time in the community marching and doing things like that,” she explained. “Being hands on in the community is my bread and butter, so MLK Day is always a good opportunity to re-engage with that part of myself and with that type of work that’s so important to me. Networking and connecting with the community in order to understand it’s needs is always something that’s mattered to me, and now as a legislator I’m able to truly serve the community that I come from.”
Although Wilmington has made strides to improve the quality of life for all of its inhabitants, the reality remains that we as a nation, still have quite a distance to go.
“The problems that MLK spoke about then, are still problems that are relevant now and if we don’t learn from our history, then we are bound to repeat it. It’s sad to say, but the ignorance that I’m exposed to at school really has inspired my writing the most,” admitted Nyani Scott, Junior at Dover High School, and $2,000 Grand prize winner of 2020’s MLK Voice for Youth competition.
Many of Delaware’s most prominent initiatives are ones that are based around the youth and rooted in the education system, but there is always room for improvement.
When asked how she’d heard about the contest, Scott responded, “MLK Voice 4Youth is more of a community event. They’ll tell you about it and put posters up around school, but nothing necessarily happens in our curriculum that gets us prepared for this competition. You hear about the contest, and then you come to compete at your own free will.”
This is something Rubini would like to see changed. “I’d like to see a lot more high school students participate. I want to encourage the teachers in the schools to challenge their students by having the tough discussions and by making this contest a class assignment,” said Rubini.
Nonetheless, for students like Nyani Scott, writing and performance has played a vital role in her life and has become a constructive outlet to pour herself into. I’ve been writing poetry since the 4th grade, but MLKnVoice for Youth is the largest competition i’ve competed in. Now that I’ve won, I want to use my writing skills to open new doors for other future talents that I may have.
When I get to college I want to major in Mass Communication since that’s somewhere that I could put my writing to use,” Scott explained.
In its beginning stages the contest was built with just a few volunteers who came together in hopes of lending a helping hand to their surrounding areas.The competition originally called for individuals to submit slam poetry, but now five years later, the program has expanded and now allows the contestants to have full creative freedom! That includes, speech, rap, poetry, and even dance and other collaborative performances.
Hundreds attend the 2020 MLK Voice For Youth at the Baby Grand on Sunday, January 19, 2020, where twelve Delaware high school students competed for the grand prize of two thousand dollars.
“I have a planning committee, and after each competition we have a debriefing meeting where we discuss what did and did not work. Every year there’s room for improvement. Luckily I have great sponsors like the YWCA that handled all of the registration, and The Grand whom provided the venue. No one gets paid; all of the money I raise goes back into this contest, and there’s seldom a day that goes by where I’m not working towards something for this program. I do this for the joy that these kids give me. It’s a beautiful thing when you put a mic in front of a student and watch them blossom,” said Rubini.
Other event sponsors included the Zeta Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, the Gamma Theta Lambda chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated, the Rotary Club of Wilmington, the Quintin E. Primo Jr. Fund for Racial Justice, and many more.
I’m so thankful for the help that I do get, although I would like to see a larger involvement in regards to the sponsors. There are limited funds, so I want to encourage other organizations to support this effort because these kids really are remarkable,” expressed Rubini.
So what’s next for the MLK Voice 4 Youth program?
“Well, since this event was created for the youth, my overall vision is to have this program be run by the youth! I think Dr. King would be so impressed by this group and the people who have been willing to dedicate their time to this vision!” said Rubini.