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After more than a year, a former Army National Guard officer and current Army reservist has had an official reprimand that he received from his chain of command for attending a protest during the summer of 2020 overturned.

Capt. Alan Kennedy, an Army reservist who was serving with the Colorado Army National Guard when he attended a Black Lives Matter rally in 2020, called the decision a victory for the First Amendment.

Kennedy had initially received a general officer memorandum of reprimand, or GOMAR, from the head of the Colorado Army National Guard for his actions. That action was reversed following a decision from the Department of the Army Suitability Evaluation Board.

The issue began more than 18 months ago, on May 30, 2020, when Kennedy who was not on duty at the time as a Colorado Army National Guard officer participated in a protest in Denver. During the protest, Denver police began tear-gassing the crowd. Kennedy later recounted his experiences in an editorial column for the Denver Post. Service members are normally not allowed to use their uniform or rank to inform public statements.

The op-ed launched an investigation by Col. Charles Beatty, chief of staff of the Colorado Army National Guard, into whether Kennedy had violated Department of Defense Instruction 1325.06, which prohibits service members, even when off duty, from participating in demonstrations in foreign countries, that are in violation of local laws, or where violence is the likely result.

The initial investigation, conducted by a lieutenant colonel in the Colorado Army National Guard according to documents obtained by Task & Purpose, found that Kennedy had not committed any misconduct. Given that Kennedy was not serving as a National Guard officer either when attending the protest or when publishing the editorial, there was no violation of military regulations.

Shortly after those findings, Beatty overruled the initial investigation and issued Kennedy a temporary local reprimand, arguing that Kennedy should have known that violence was likely to occur at any protest.

The protests that Kennedy attended later became the subject of a civil court case, Abay v. City of Denver, in which a judge found fault with the Denver Police Departments use of tear-gas and projectiles when responding to the demonstrations.

The next month, in July 2020, Kennedy published a second editorial recounting his experience. That launched a second investigation by the Colorado Army National Guard.

By publishing the article and identifying yourself as a service member you violated regulations and provisions of the Colorado Code of Military Justice, and your actions brought disrepute and dishonor upon the COARNG. It is also apparent from the plain language of the article that it was your intent to do so, and thereby to intimidate the command into refraining from lawful use of its authority to investigate, read the reprimand issued by Brig. Gen. Douglas Paul on Sept. 11, 2020.

The GOMOR issued would have essentially ended Kennedys military career, preventing any potential for promotion or further advancement through the ranks.

Kennedy then filed a lawsuit, alleging that the military reprimand represented a violation of his constitutional rights.

That lawsuit also alleged that Kennedys superior officers held that Black Lives Matter protests are inherently violent, asserting that all Black Lives Matter protests begin peacefully and devolve into violent clashes with the police. The lawsuit also triggered a third investigation into Kennedy, which still upheld his GOMAR.

It was clear that I was not representing the views of the military when I wrote those articles, said Kennedy. The Colorado National Guard just didnt like what I wrote.

Kennedy has since transferred to the Army Reserve, currently serving in Virginia.

Soldiers expressing their views in public is not a new issue for the military, but Kennedys case comes at a moment when service members have increased visibility in their personal lives, and the gap between soldiers and civilians is increasingly blurred by social media.

Earlier this summer, Marine Corps. Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller saw his career rapidly go up in flames after taking to social media to decry the pullout from Afghanistan. Seven states are now suing the federal government to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates for their National Guard personnel.

But its also become a way for service members to call out their leaders. In 2020, a sergeant first class at Fort Hood took to TikTok to discuss toxic leadership conditions in his unit after having been rebuffed by his chain of command. In 2019, Task & Purpose wrote about a Wisconsin Air National Guard master sergeant who spent years trying to call attention to claims of sexual harassment in his unit. For members of the National Guard and Reserves, who only spend a few days a month in uniform, that dichotomy between service time and civilian life is only heightened.

Its just common sense to me that you dont lose your constitutional rights just because you take an oath to defend them, said Kennedy.

Kennedys lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado, remains outstanding. It raises a question that while specific to one social movement in this case is increasingly relevant to service members.

Can the government prohibit off-duty, out-of-uniform service members stationed in the United States from peacefully participating in Black Lives Matter and other peaceful protests, if the service members conduct is not in breach of law and order? reads the complaint.

In July 2021, the National Guard Bureau issued a memorandum stating that the regulations under which Kennedy had initially been punished would only to National Guard service members in a title 10 duty status under federal command and control.

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An Army captain fought his chain of command for a year over his free speech rights and won - Task & Purpose

A bill aimed at punishing colleges and universities for violating free speech and academic freedom rules set by Republicans has passed a legislative committee by a party-line vote. This comes after a GOP author amended the legislation to remove provisions that were potentially unconstitutional.

The bill, introduced by state Rep. Rachel Cabral-Guevara, R-Appleton, and Rep. Dave Murphy, R-Greenville, bars technical colleges and universities from enforcing time, place or other restrictions on free speech events happening anywhere on campus except classrooms.

The legislation also requires colleges to survey students annually about First Amendment rights, academic freedom, whether they feel there is perceived political bias at their school or the "campus culture promotes self-censorship."

If anyone feels a college or university violated their rights, the bill allows them, a district attorney or state attorney general to sue the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents or a technical college district board. If a judge rules against a college, the court must award a minimum of $500 in damages and a maximum of $100,000 in damages to plaintiffs.

In addition to financial penalties, if a school violates the bill's regulations, it will be required to notify incoming students that it has "violated the free speech or academic freedom provisions in the Wisconsin statutes."

The bill passed by the Assembly Colleges and Universities Committee on Thursday looked different from the original legislation introduced Dec. 2.

An amendment offered by Rep. Cabral-Guevara removed aspects that were potentially unconstitutional, including a provision that would have allowed legislative committees, like her own, to rule on alleged violations. The amendment also removed a proposal to block state grant funding for scholarships from going to schools found to have violated free speech rights.

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During a Dec. 8 public hearing on the bill, an attorney with the nonpartisan Wisconsin Legislative Council said lawmakers giving themselves judicial authority "very well could be subject to separation of powers issues" and that "it's kind of questionable" whether a legislative committee could restrict financial aid to colleges.

During a meeting of the Assembly Colleges and Universities Committee on Thursday, Rep. Katrina Shankland, D-Stevens Point, said the legislation is unnecessary because First Amendment protections already exist at the federal and state level. She also pointed to a 2017 UW Board of Regents policy that punishes students for repeatedly violating free speech rights of others.

"So, at the end of the day, I do think at least some of the bill authors were more interested in putting forward a bill that was designed to be political and furnish political talking points during the year 2022, to which you can conclude pretty reasonably that it has more to do with outside the building politics than it certainly does within making laws," said Shankland.

Cabral-Guevara pushed back, saying the legislation is needed due to genuine concerns from constituents who said they feel campus environments stifle free speech rights of conservative students or teachers.

"I hope that students and instructors will have a platform in the future, no matter what side you stand on and where you stand, to speak freely their passions and their desires (and) their concerns on the campuses that are supported here in Wisconsin," said Cabral-Guevara.

State Rep. Clint Moses, R-Menomonie, said the majority of professors and instructors at state colleges are "great, great people."

"But there are some that are abusing their position where they're supposed to be encouraging free thought and open discussions," said Moses.

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GOP bill setting free speech rules, punishing colleges that violate them moves forward - Wisconsin Public Radio News

Amid a flurry of bills nationwide that seek to ban the teaching of critical race theory in schools, one such proposal in Virginia stood out.

Tucked inside a bill introduced by Wren Williams, a Republican delegate, was a glaring error: Among the concepts that school boards would be required to ensure students understood was the first debate between Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.

But as scholars, Mr. Williamss colleagues in the House of Delegates and others on social media noted, that debate was between not Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, the abolitionist, but Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, a Democratic senator from Illinois.

The gross mistake in this bill is indicative of the need to have scholars and teachers, not legislators/politicians, shaping what students at every level learn in the classroom, Caroline Janney, a professor of Civil War history at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, said in an email.

On Friday, Addison Merryman, a spokesman for Mr. Williams, released a statement from the states Division of Legislative Services, which took the blame for the error.

The mistake was inserted at the drafting level following receipt of a historically accurate request from the office of Delegate Wren Williams, according to the division, which described itself as a nonpartisan state agency that drafts, edits and releases thousands of legislative drafts for the General Assembly each session.

Mr. Merryman did not respond to additional questions about whether a historian had been consulted on the legislation or about concerns that the proposal could run afoul of the First Amendment. (Parts of that bill, such as a section that tells school boards not to teach or incorporate into any course or class any divisive concept, have been criticized as overly broad and likely to infringe on the free speech of students and educators.)

Instead, he referred to statements that he and Mr. Williams had made on Townhall, a conservative website. Mr. Merryman told Townhall that Mr. Williams had submitted an anti-discrimination bill that correctly referred to the Lincoln-Douglas debates.

Lincoln and Douglas met seven times in 1858, when Lincoln, a Republican, challenged Douglas for Senate. Lincoln lost the election, but the debates between the two brilliant orators transfixed the country, drew attention to the bitter arguments over slavery and catapulted Lincoln to national fame.

Mr. Williams told Townhall that he was frustrated by the error.

I have a very high standard for my office, and my service to my constituents and the Commonwealth, he said.

I trust this was an honest mistake, he added, and I dont hold it against Legislative Services.

The mix-up recalled remarks by President Donald J. Trump on the first day of Black History Month in 2017 in which he referred to Douglass in the present tense, leading some critics to conclude that he believed the abolitionist, who died in 1895, was still alive.

Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody whos done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I notice, he said.

The error should not distract the public from the general contents of the bill, which would keep conversations about the United States racial history out of classrooms, said Lara Schwartz, a professor of government in the School of Public Affairs at American University in Washington.

If this so-called divisive concepts bill became law, all of Virginias students would be the worse for it, and ignorance of our history would not just be a sad punchline it would become more the norm, she said in an email.

Critical race theory an advanced academic concept generally not introduced until college is not part of classroom teaching in Virginia. But during the statewide race last year, Mr. Williams, 33, a lawyer who worked on Mr. Trumps failed efforts to overturn the election results in Wisconsin, said he would ban it in schools if he won.

The bill, the first one introduced by Mr. Williams, is pending in committee and must be passed by both the House of Delegates and the Senate, where Democrats hold a slim majority.

C.R.T. is not new. Derrick Bell, a pioneering legal scholar who died in 2011, spent decades exploring what it would mean to understand racism as a permanent feature of American life. He is often called the godfather of critical race theory, but the term was coined by Kimberl Crenshaw in the 1980s.

The theory has gained new prominence. After theprotestsborn from the police killing of George Floyd, critical race theory resurfaced as part of a backlash among conservatives includingformer President Trump who began to use the term as apolitical weapon.

The current debate. Critics of C.R.T. argue that it accuses all white Americans of being racist and is being used to divide the country. But critical race theorists say they are mainly concerned with understandingthe racial disparities that have persisted ininstitutionsandsystems.

A hot-button issue in schools. The debate has turned school boards into battlegroundsas some Republicans say the theory is invading classrooms. Education leaders, including the National School Boards Association, say that C.R.T. is not being taught in K-12 schools.

The legislation would forbid school boards or educators to teach any divisive concept, encourage students to participate in political activism or public policy advocacy, or hire equity and diversity consultants.

The legislations wording prohibits teachers from helping students understand the continuing role of racism in the development of American institutions and culture, said James Grossman, the executive director of the American Historical Association, which represents more than 11,500 historians. It provides a chilling effect that makes teachers wary of teaching accurate American history.

He said the bill had come from the same template as legislation introduced in more than 30 other states that seeks to ban or limit the teaching of divisive concepts relating to race and racism in classrooms.

Professor Schwartz said that the fact that there is a basic factual error in this bill has amused many people.

She added, But its a distraction from an issue thats not funny at all: a wave of state legislation that has the effect and intent of impeding the important conversations that teachers and students need to have in their classrooms.

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A Bill Proposed a New Way to Teach History. It Got the History Wrong. - The New York Times

(Bryan Schott | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes chats with Rep. Chris Stewart at the Utah Eagle Forum convention on Jan. 8, 2022.

By Mark Hurst | The Public Forum

| Jan. 16, 2022, 1:00 p.m.

While I am ever grateful for the First Amendment and its guarantee of a free press, at the same time I always feel bad for the Utah journalists who must report on and print the details of Utahs infamous Eagle Forum conference. The recent report in the Tribune of the Jan. 8 meeting of Utahs craziest of the crazy sent a chill up my spine.

At least the writer was at liberty to freely use the term fringe in describing Gayle Ruzika and her band of deluded sheep, including our Utah attorney general, Blandings poster boy for Warhols 15 minutes of fame Rep. Phil Lyman, most of our other elected officials, and a whopping 83.33% of our 6-member congressional delegation.

Fortunately, the article did not provide us with all the details, but it was enough to read that our Uber Republican friends continued to harp on the evils of vaccination, the (disproven) effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, and the painting of Dr. Anthony Fauci as the leader of a religious cult. What a cruel irony that participants would have the audacity to label anyone else a cult.

This disreputable band of brothers and sisters would be laughable if they were not so very frightening.

Mark Hurst, St. George

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Letter: The Eagle Forum participants would be laughable if they weren't so frightening - Salt Lake Tribune

The Dr. Martin Luther KingCommission of Mid-Michigan held it's annual essay contest for Greater Lansing junior and high school students, including theMark S. McDaniel Legacy Scholarship component for graduating seniors.

Scholarship winners (two) will receive$5,000 prizes; three otherfinalists will receive $2,500 prizes.Essay contest winners receive$500 forfirst place,$350 for second place and$150 forthird place.

This year's theme is the Martin Luther King Jr. quote,"In the long run, justice finally must spring from a new moral climate. Below arescholarship and essay contest winners.

Join in the day of celebration fromthe Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission of Mid-Michigan LIVE at 7 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 17 airing locally onWILX TV-10 and WLNS TV-6. To learn more about the event, visitmlkmidmichigan.com/day-of-celebration.

"In the long run, justice finally must spring from a new moral climate" means various things to many different people. Everyone is unique, one-of-a-kind, and individual. But it is through community that our society can thrive as a whole.

In 2020, I participated in the NAACP Youth Rally Protest. What led me to this was the disappointment and sadness of injustice in America. What happened to George Floyd was unacceptable and I feltthat marching would show that the malpractice of justice was not admissible. My family and I agreed to exercise our First Amendment right to fight injustice. I did hadsome fear for my safety and as well as for my family. Lansing was a victim of rioters while protesters were exercising their First Amendmentrights.

I felt like I was a young John Lewis trying to turn injustice into a peaceful moral climate. My Edmund Pettus Bridge was Michigan Avenue. I learned that protest and outcry could cause a massive influence on the trajectory of a new moral environment. At the rally, everyone agreed on one thing. Regardless of race, gender, or economic status, we all decided that what happened to George Floyd was not just. My experience at the rally is an example of the push needed to spring towards justice.

I believe absolute justice is obtainable, and the first steps start with everyone. With any goal, there has to be a definite drive to achieve. Dr. King once said. "Faith is the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase." Martin Luther King Jr. knew that faith in his efforts would produce fruits of success.

I find it quite ludicrous that we are still dealing with problems that have grown roots since 1619. A significant part of the problemis laziness in society. The lack of empowerment and honest assessment of situations that developed into a basketof secondary dilemmas. This includes gang violence, immaturity, politics, generational divides, economic status, and the lack of diversity and inclusion.

With Dr. King's philosophy, I am confident that I can achieve my goalsof educating others on financial literacy. My dream is to build an educational institution teaching kids about financial literacy and coding. This is how I will make my difference towards a new moral climate. As we come together and put our differences to rest, we shall overcome the problems of our day.

David Ferguson (East Lansing High School)

The crowd outside on this warm June day was bustling, but there was an absence of life. I could tell from the podium at the former Black Child and Family Institute that they were anxious. The tensions were high because the recent deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd had shaken everyone. They stared intently at me, waiting for me to begin. I knew they saw me standing there, but I hoped they wouldn't see me; a nervous Black 15-year-old at the Lansing Coalition Juneteenth Public Forum last year. I was tasked with delivering a three-minute speech to hundreds of people including newscasters and politicians about social injustice and police brutality. But Dr. King said "in the long run, justice finally must spring from a new moral climate," and this was my chance tobring forth such change.

I scanned the audience and began talking about the importance of voting. Throughout my entire life, I heard people complain about how a certain president was elected or why a bad policy was implemented. Ironically, they were the same people who never went to the polls to voice their opinion through the ballot. The ballot is our strongest weapon, and we need to use it because we we could be the loudest in the room. If we don't vote, our opinion won't matter. Wemust vote nationally and locally to elect ourmayors, judges and prosecutors in the hopes of unleashing a new moral climate that birthed the justice that found a police officer guilty of murdering Mr. Floyd and three men guilty of killing Mr. Arbery. Voting isn't the only way to make an impact.

We can serve our community and work with our political leaders to effect change. I talked about the need for young people to educate ourselves on our rights so we wouldn't be taken advantage of. We must work with our politicians to implement a policy that would make it a right for 16-to 18-year-olds to call their parents when pulled over by the police tohelp provide safety and comfort. Subsequently, I served on Rep. Sarah Anthony's Youth Advisory Council and she would later introduce my idea as a bill in the state Legislature.

Once I finished my speech, a massive weight had been lifted off my chest. I felt alleviated being able to speak what had been on my mind for the lastfew months, and to my surprise, I could tell the crowd felt the same way as well. A semblance of that life had returned. The nervous kid inspired by Dr. King's teachings, was met with an overwhelming applause. I couldn't contain my smile.

James McCurtis (Okemos High School)

"Standing in Solidarity"

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, In the long run, justice finally must springfrom a new moral climate. This statement was in response to the 1957 desegregationof Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. However, his words remain importantand relevant today, especially with the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor andmany others who have been victims of police violence. As a young Black man, myfamily and I have been affected by these tragedies. Understanding that I may beperceived as a threat because of my skin color means I cannot run in certainneighborhoods when it gets dark. It means I need to be extra cautious when I amdriving or have my music too loud. It means I need to understand that violence can findme when I least expect it. This is why we protest.

It is amazing to see the support from communities that came together to protestthese injustices. I was proud to attend a protest at the Michigan state Capitol indowntown Lansing. Unfortunately, I notice how quickly people forget about thesetragedies and move on. After a couple of weeks, once people felt that they did their part,they stopped protesting and stopped supporting our cause.

I am also a young Asian man. I have seen the attitudes towards Asians and thehate that we have received due to the coronavirus. We have been victims of racism,hate, and violence due to the pandemic. Again, there was a flood of support fromcommunities until people lost interest and moved on.

The current moral climate involvesa lot of performative activisms, and it is disingenuous to fight injustice only when it istrending. Our temporary moral compass needs to be fixed and become a constant partof our life. My biracial identity has given me a different view on issues knowing that it iscrucial that people support all injustices. It is not Black vs Asian vs white vs Latino. It isnot us vs them. We need to work together and stand in solidarity with each otherconsistently to correct injustices in the world. We need to always continue in our fight forequality, not just when it is convenient.

Jerry Jai Kozar-Lewis (East Lansing High School)

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a very influential person during his time on earth andeven now, he still isin this day and age, which to most people speaks volumes because he's beendeceased for 53 years now. The words he spoke are still being spoken by everyone regardless ofbeliefs because that's the type of influence he had.

A quote from him says that, In the long run,justice finally must spring from a new moral climate." Yet spiritual forces cannot emerge in asituation of mob violence." Martin was speaking about then PresidentEisenhower calling"wishy-washy for not being on one side or the other. Moreover, in Martin saying these words,he's saying that to get that justice or that end goal you have to change for the better, change yourway of thinking and think about what may ensue after. Turn that leaf that you've thought mightnever get flipped.

Justice for the future is essential because for a nation that has a pledgecalling for allegiance which also at the end states, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.But in an environment where it has no justice it always results in no peace until that justice isserved righteously. Though in this world people around can be seen transitioning into that newmoral climate that King brought when he addressed Eisenhower's action ways of trying to serveequality in the place in of where justice should be upheld equally the most; schools. Furthermorewith his statement you can't present violence to achieve your self image of justice and try tojustify your actions with the words of your god equally looking as someone that lacks internalmoral justification.

Kalib Jackson (Eastern High School)

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said In the long run, justice finally must spring from anew moral climate,"I believe this means that in order for justice to be achieved, you must firstconvince the majority of the public to adopt a new mindset. This could mean a new generationsmindset perhaps.

To understand Martin Luther King Jr.'s statement, you must first understand thedefinition of the word moral,which is defined as "concerning or relating to what is right andwrong in human behavior,"and the word "climate, which is defined as "the usual or mostwidespread mood or conditions in a place.When combining the two, to me, the phrase "moralclimate" means: The most widespread belief of what is right or wrong.

It almost irks me to know that this quote was written in 1957 in reference to the treatmenttowards people of color during the civil rights movement, yet it is still relevant today. Things likethe Black Lives Matter movement, the push for something to be done about climate change, theabortion rights movement, and the need for LGBTQ rights. There are likely more issues that Dr.King Jr.'s quote applies to, but these are just the few that come to mind.

I also believe the kind of people that are concerned with these issues prove his point aswell. A series of telephone interviews from 2015-2018 from people ages 18 and up gathered datathat 70% of people ages 18-34 are worried about global warming while only 56% of people ages55 and older are worried about it. We needed a generation that would provide a new "moralclimate" to see some activism regarding the issue of climate change. The same applies with theBlack Lives Matter movement, which more directly applies to the theme of justice; Two-thirdsof adults younger than 30 express at least some support, as does a narrower majority of thoseages 30 to 49 (58%). About half of adults ages 50 to 64 (49%) and 46% of those 65 and older saythey support the movement.

This research just goes to show that the very thing that Martin Luther King Jr. wasfighting for almost 70 years ago is still relevant today. We still need strong people to influencethe moral climate to allow justice and from the looks of it, the people that will influence themorals will be this new generation.

Eliana McDonald (Eastern High School)

"In the long run, justice finally must spring from a new moral climate. Martin Luther King Jr.

Blackchildrenaremisledandmisunderstoodbyoutsideforceseveryday.With generationalcurses and childhood trauma dating back to their first breath, they have little to noeducation on how to process strong feelings causing minor inconveniences to pile up on eachother. Meaning that when problems occur, they have no way to express their feelings other thananger. Trauma, mixed with firearms makes Black children seem violent as opposed tomisunderstood. Lack of resources results in the consistency of Black poverty ensuing in theabundance of gun violence in our society.

The education system is built to break upon the same people it claims to attend to. ForBlack people, there are very few chances to break out of the generational cycle of poverty. Inpredominantly urban areas, there are very few opportunities for success. People that make it outof the cycle are considered extremely lucky, which says something about this environment as awhole. There are issues greater than the ones I've stated, but they also have solutions larger thanI can comprehend. How do you change the mind of someone so fixated on hatred? How do youconvince someone to change their beliefs of hostility towards a group of people? The answer liesin the future.

Once the human mind decides on a set of beliefs, it's nearly impossible to change them,meaning the solution lies in the generation ahead of ourselves. A better environment for the nextgeneration would consist of counseling, emotional advocacy, and justice for the countless livesand futures lost to gun violence. My hope is that the new moral climate of justice for my people,lies in my generation and the ones to come.

Xavier McKissic, 7th grade (Everett High School)

"A Struggle for Justice"

For my 9th birthday present, my sister gifted me a book. I devoured it. The book was called "Separate Is Never Equal," a biography both authored and illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh, detailingSylvia Mendez and her family's fight for desegregation in California schools. And oh, my word, thewriting! The art! It was so gripping and powerful helplessly enthralling in fractured beauty.

The booktells the story of Sylvia Mendez's parents demanding the authorities give an explanation after theirchildren of Mexican descent were denied the same education and opportunities as children of white backgrounds. They received none satisfactory, however, and soon brought their plight to court.Though the journey was difficult, the Mendez family emerged victorious: garnering support fromstudents and parents who had suffered similar injustices, receiving help from associations ofdifferent backgrounds all to eventually secure the rights for children of every ethnicity, language, andbackground to learn together in California schools.

I was reminded of "Separate Is Never Equal" when I was considering how to weave the themefor the contest into my writing. For Sylvia Mendez and so many others at the time, justice came in theform of living on equal footing with their white neighbors. However, if this was justice, why was itnot established early on? Why only now? Of course, as Martin Luther King Jr. stated, perhaps themoral climate was simply not right.

Like a desert flower sunk under scintillating snow, justice can'testablish itself when society's worldviews don't accept it. Nonetheless, there is hope. The snow willthaw, the desert flower blossom, and people living under injustice like Sylvia Mendez and millions ofothers at the time and at the present will eventually triumph in their battles for liberation, per Mr.King's famous words.

Sophia Liu,8th grade (Chippewa Middle School)

Throughout history, justice has always been difficult to obtain. In some cases people have losthope that one day there will be equality for everyone. Justice is a principle that every person, community,and culture deserves. Dr. Martin Luther King was a beacon of light showing us how to change the moralclimate by increasing awareness and protesting against injustice.

MLK was conveying a deeply resounding message when stating these words: In the long run, justice finally must spring from a new moral climate. He believed that later on in time, therewould be a generation that would emphasize the importance of justice and what it truly means.During the time Martin said these words, there was a lot of injustice specifically to those withanother skin color and diverse ethnicities. Despite the lack of equity, MLK always saw the lightat the end of the tunnel. He never gave up on his hope that one day people of color would gainjustice.

In our present time, the world still isn't perfect, and it may never be. We still see peoplefighting for all sorts of justice, but the question that persist is: What can I/we do to contribute tothe goodness of our society? We can start by always treating people nicely, gently, andrespectfully. Each person has a challenge, an obstacle to face, and a hindrance that limitspossibilities but we can all make attempts at understanding because we never know whatsomeone is going through. We can initiate and support a moral climate change by not lookingdown on a certain community of people and by speaking up for the weak and the vulnerable.Giving equal and equitable opportunities no matter of background, religion, ethnicity, andculture is what will help us heal and advance the call for justice and pursuit of happiness.

Every little simple gesture of kindness, acceptance, tolerance, and perseverance paves theway for a better future. One that we aspire for ourselves, our families, and our communities.Everyone has their own opinions and beliefs, but one thing we should all do is strive tocontribute to the equity and the freedom of living in a moral climate that celebrates ourdifferences and enriches our unity bringing to fruition the dream that Martin Luther King Jr.Though it takes time, the arch of justice get served and in that is my hope for a prosperousfuture.

Diana Carrosco-Guerrero, 11th grade (Sexton High School)

Like how when you played the violin

a little too aggressively,

and the string snapped back hitting you in the face,

the same violin hidden forever in the corner of your basement.

The mortal race forever lost,

seeking out something that is never meant to be found.

For why would justice be found

in a garbage dump?

The quote said must,"

Not might," or perhaps, or definitely not,

It must spring out of the ashes, and shadows,

in order for justice to be found.

Like when you're looking for something,

but it's right there hidden in plain sight.

We must allow the pogo stick to be fixed,

start training to swim and run,

computer to be reprogrammed,

violin strings repaired,

Emma Heinzelmann,8th grade (Chippewa Middle School)

Essay winners will be recognized LIVEat 7 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 17 airing locally onWILX TV-10 and WLNS TV-6,part of the day of celebration fromthe Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission of Mid-Michigan.

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Greater Lansing students find personal meaning in the words of Martin Luther King Jr. - Lansing State Journal