School Life article on our MLK unity/peace march
Student-led March “Just The Start” For Promoting Unity
Edsel Ford senior Cassandra Tapiam had her fill of news after watching coverage of the Paris bombings when she made a vow.
“It was enough,” she said. “I couldn’t take it.”
Frustrated with images and reports that often portray a distorted and negative image of the city of Dearborn, Cassandra spoke with her teacher about ways to bring people together to show the diversity and unity of Dearborn. Turns out, students at Fordson and Dearborn High were on the same page. Students from all three schools met. The outcome of student meetings: #TheRealDearborn Peach March on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, on January 18, 2016.
“We wanted to show that we have many type’s of people in one city,” said Cassandra. “We wanted to show we’re able to come together.”
Mission accomplished.
Braving icy temperatures, more than 250 students from all of Dearborn’s high schools came together to lead The Real Dearborn March. The students and their supporters marched along Michigan Ave. from Henry Ford Centennial Library to the Dearborn Administrative Center. City officials welcomed other community members into the building so that they could listen to speeches by the student organizers as well Superintendent Dr. Glenn Maleyko and Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr.
“The march is over, but we are going to keep going with other community service initiatives,” said Cassandra. “We have underclassmen in our group, so we won’t stop The Real Dearborn group. We want to keep planning.”
For now, Cassandra and others can look back to the march as the seed for a new student movement celebrating unity and diversity in Dearborn.
“It’s all of us,” said Edsel Ford student Denorah Jeffries. “It’s blacks, whites, and we’re all coming together to show that there is love here and everyone is appreciated. Doing it on Martin Luther King Day I think was very impactful because he stood for equality, he stood for everybody, he stood for love. That is something we are trying to push.”
Students came together a few days before the peace march to make posters with quotes from Dr. King. John Paul Vaga was one of the students.
“It doesn’t matter what you are because everyone (in Dearborn) is human,” said John Paul. “And to be human is to care.”
Gadi Bzih summoning the lessons from Martin Luther King Jr. and generations past, shared this mantra: “We need to make a change in this world.”
(the next part will jump to page 12, though it’s not listed on your thumbnail like that. I just decided to jump it to that page and include a few more pictures)
Event organizers who spoke at the event included Cassandra Tapia from Edsel Ford; Sultan Elhaj, Dearborn High; Jacob Gilman, Edsel Ford; Ghassan Ahmed, Edsel Ford; Omar Carcora, Fordson; and Claudia Hammoud, Divine Child.
Members of numerous Dearborn-based community groups also participated in the march including: Dearborn Allied War Veterans; Dearborn Area Chamber of Commerce; Dearborn Community Fund; Dearborn/Dearborn Heights League of Women Voters; and the American Association of University Women.
Cassandra Tapia, Omar Carcora, Noor Alzuabidi, Ghassan Ahmed, Marwa Khalil, Claudia Hammoud, and Leslie Herrick contributed to this story
Caption for photos on front page: Students from Dearborn High, Edsel Ford, Fordson, and Divine Child unite for a peace march to show the world the real Dearborn. Photos: Leslie Herrick and Adrian Ljaljevic, School Life.
Caption for photos for the jump on page 12: Students, staff and community members organized at the new City Hall following the peace march.
by Violet Souweidane