Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy reflected in students' words, images

For this Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, it's the students who are offering lessons.

Long Island young people submitted artwork and essays honoring the civil rights giant for the state's Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Fine Arts and Essay Exhibition.

The students highlighted King's moral leadership, courage and achievements for the exhibit, which is posted on the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Observance website at empirestateplaza.ny.gov/nyking.

The holiday honoring King and his legacy is Monday.

Knoele Pettus, 14, of the Brentwood Freshman Center, drew two hands of different colors holding on to one another, a flower sprouting between them.

Gabriella Scheifele, 11, of William Floyd Middle School, wrote a story of parents admonishing two kids fighting over a toy, with a message that people need to take the lessons of nonviolence and sharing into adulthood.

Lillian McKinney, 12, of Baldwin Middle School, drew a young girl having a thought bubble filled with peaceful images, such as two friends enjoying a sunset.

Their sentiments are big and beautiful, devoid of cynicism, and wise for the students' years. 

The exhibit, sponsored by the state Education Department and Office of General Services, collected creations from 3,920 students across the state. Several of the works are being exhibited on the Empire State Plaza in Albany through Black History Month in February.

Here are the stories of the work by five students on Long Island.

Gabriella Scheifele, 11, William Floyd Middle School, Moriches

Gabriella didn't have to look far to connect King's message to her own life. Her story concerns two children fighting over a toy, and she said the models for it were her own younger brother and sister.

"When I was a kid, my sister and brother always brought toys to the park," said the sixth-grader. "They would fight over the toys. They each would bring a toy and end up wanting the other person's toy."

Her short story starts with that very scenario. The two kids end up crying and the girl hits the boy. Both end up getting a good talking-to from their parents. Then Gabriella turns to the moral of the story.

"We learn from a very young age, around the time we start to walk, to choose nonviolence," she wrote. "As an adult, it is our own choice to continue to choose nonviolence."

Not satisfied with expressing just a sentiment, Gabriella ends the story by pointing out some of the very real-world consequences of solving conflicts through violence.

"Choosing violence can mean getting arrested and going to jail," she wrote. "No matter how old or young we are, no matter how you feel, toddler or adult, you should always choose nonviolence."

Lillian McKinney, 12, Baldwin Middle School

Lillian created a drawing of a girl with earbuds around her neck and sleeves too long for her arms. The girl's thoughts are expressed in one of those thought bubbles used in cartoons, in a circle above her head.

There's the image of two hands coming together to form a heart, a child cuddling an animal and a saying above it all: "Love instead of Hate."

Lillian said she drew inspiration from King's quote, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

"I just like that he inspires me and other people to be your own person, and not to judge other people," said the seventh-grader.

Lillian loves to draw, and she has stacks of sketchbooks to prove it.

She said that in life, people need to be who they are.

"I don't like the concept of hate. It's their life. It's what they want to be. It's not your choice."

Knoele Pettus, 14, Brentwood Freshman Center

"I just think beautiful things can blossom when we join hands," said Knoele, a ninth-grader.

Her drawing is one simple but powerful image: Two hands, one dark in color and the other light, come together, entwined by flowers on vines, with one big rose rising from the top.

Behind, in big letters in soft pinks and reds, is the saying, "I Have A Dream."

Knoele chose this image over another idea she had. That one would have featured a gate with one group of people on one side and another group on the other.

"Martin Luther King Jr. would be opening the gate," she said. "I think he opened the gate between us."

Knoele said her connection to King deepened when she realized that her last name is the same as the one on the famous bridge that played a role in the civil rights movement.

On "Bloody Sunday," March 7, 1965, some 600 civil rights marchers headed east out of Selma, Alabama, on U.S. Route 80, according to the National Park Service website.

"They got only as far as the Edmund Pettus Bridge six blocks away, where state and local lawmen attacked them with billy clubs and tear gas and drove them back into Selma," the site said. "Two days later on March 9, Martin Luther King, Jr., led a 'symbolic' march to the bridge."

Knoele's family is not a blood relation to the bridge's namesake, who was a former Confederate brigadier general, U.S. senator and "Grand Dragon" of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan.

But knowing her name is on the bridge, she said, brought her closer to King.

"I think he was one of many people who helped show the value of people of color," she said.

Krrishpreet Kaur, 16, Sewanhaka High School, Floral Park

Krrishpreet's drawing focuses on King's face in a thoughtful moment. She renders his face in an abstract fashion, composed of many colors — blues, greens, reds and yellows.

Her method, she said, was aimed at catching the eyes of children, since she believes King's message must pass from generation to generation.

"These ideas should be talked about again," said Krrishpreet, an 11th-grader who lives in Franklin Square. "I thought adding colors would make them more curious to find out more about him."

Krrishpreet said she knows that "nowadays there's so much Asian hate and Black hate going around," but that "many people don't know racism occurs in our country."

She said she read King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech last year for class. 

"He had a dream of bringing people together," she said. "There are still leaders talking about these problems and how to solve them. I find that very inspiring."

Jay Powar, 10, Drexel Avenue Elementary School, Westbury

Liberty, justice, love, nonviolence — all of these are splashed across Jay's painting honoring King.

On a watercolor background of horizontal streaks blue and red and yellow, King appears with images of peace doves and peace signs. His hand is raised in a peace sign, and the hand is colored in the stars and stripes.

"I tried to make my painting represent peace and no violence," said the fifth-grader. "Just a peaceful world."

He said he tries to live by that in his own life.

"I don't judge people by how they look, but by what's on the inside," he said, borrowing a line from the icon himself, "By the content of their character."

By Craig Schneider

craig.schneider@newsday.comScraigo

Craig Schneider is a Long Island native and Stony Brook University alumnus. He joined Newsday as a general assignment reporter in January 2018 after 20 years at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.