By Shanelle Henry
Director of Equity and Inclusion
On October 26th, 1967, a student named Dennis Kemp was a ninth-grader at Barratt Middle School in Philadelphia. That day, the head of school asked Dennis and other students of the school’s stage crew to greet a special guest arriving for assembly. Dennis had no idea who was about to step out of the limousine. Then the car door swung open, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stepped out. It is a day Dennis says that he will “never forget.”
That day, Dr. King spoke to the students about being the best people they can be, and encouraged them to work hard and love themselves, despite whatever obstacles they might face. “I want to ask you a question,” Dr. King said. “What is in your life’s blueprint?”
Whenever a building is constructed, you usually have an architect who draws a blueprint. Yesterday, GFA alum Anthony “Ace” Patterson (who is today’s special guest assembly speaker), yesterday Ace asked the 3rd and 4th graders what some of their big dreams in life were. 4th grader, Gordon Fatherley actually answered that he dreamt of becoming an architect. In much the same way that an architect uses a blueprint as the pattern, guide or model to build a building, your life’s dreams may not be actualized without a good, sound, and solid blueprint.
Dr. King offered the following suggestions of things that should be in your life’s blueprint:
Number one in your life's blueprint, Dr. King said, should be a deep belief in your own dignity, your own worth, and your own somebodiness. Don’t allow anyone to make you feel that you are a nobody. Always feel that you count, that you have worth, and always feel that your life has ultimate significance. Yesterday, 8th grader Amy Carmona delivered a speech in the middle school about losing someone very close to her because other people had made them feel like they didn’t matter. Tolani Oshin, also in 8th grade, shared advice for believing in yourself, standing up for your beliefs and being proud of who you are regardless of what others’ may think or do.
Second, Dr. King said, in your life's blueprint you must have as a basic principle the determination to achieve excellence in your various fields of endeavor. This is important because, whether you realize it or not, right now is the most crucial period of your lives - what you do now and what you decide now at this age may very well determine which direction your life may take. Ace, who graduated from GFA in 2007, is a perfect example of this and has shared some of his stories about how being a “Jamaican-kid from Bridgeport” and going to GFA helped him navigate his college experiences at Columbia University and his ultimate life experiences as a hip-hop artist in the music industry, a consultant, and marketer at Facebook and, soon, YouTube.
Finally, Dr. King said, your life's blueprint must include a commitment to the eternal principles of beauty, love, and justice. However young you are, you have the ability and a responsibility to seek to make the world a better place to live for everyone. Whether it is in your school, your community, your state, country, or the nation, you can be involved in the struggle for freedom and justice at any level. Quisque Pro Omnibus - “Each For All.” GFA teaches us to think about and analyze our own identities and experiences, as well as the identities and experiences of others. Ask yourself, “how might you foster the change that creates equity for everyone?”
I end with this quote from Dr. King’s Blueprint speech, “...with a powerful commitment, I believe that we can transform the dark yesterdays of injustice into bright tomorrows of justice and humanity. Let us keep going toward the goal of selfhood, toward the realization of the dream of brotherhood, and toward the realization of the dream of understanding and goodwill. Let nobody stop us.”
Dr. King’s words will always be timely because the struggle for social justice is ongoing. Together we can continue building the society he once thought possible.