Students raise their voices in MLK Jr. Oratorical Contest

  TYSON EVANS Fourth-year Janelle
Tillotson won the 14th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Oratorical Contest.

By Ellen Kang
Daily Bruin Contributor

Addressing the theme quote, “Nothing is more dangerous
than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity,” six UCLA
students voiced concerns about prejudice and the effects of Sept.
11 at the 14th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Oratorical
Contest.

Contest winner Janelle Tillotson, a fourth-year Spanish and
Chicana/o Studies student, received a standing ovation from the
crowd of roughly 100 people in the Northwest Campus Auditorium
Thursday night after concluding her speech by saying, “It is
me being black that makes me whole.”

“The scope of MLK Jr.’s power with his words and his
drive is almost unfathomable,” Tillotson said. “If he
were here today, I would ask him just how he responds to negativity
““ especially to the people who felt animosity toward
him.”

The contest aims to provide a forum for students to reflect and
comment on the life and work of Dr. King, said Robert Kadota, area
director of the Office of Residential Life. The Intercultural
Programming Committee of ORL sponsored the contest.

Before the speeches, the ORL presented a slide-show of students
from different ethnicities and flashed messages saying “UCLA
is a community of people from diverse national origins” and
that people “should accept one another and learn from each
other.”

Dr. King’s teachings are not limited to racism and can
start with a simple act of love and understanding within the home,
said first-year psychology student and contestant Jeff Osofsky.

“King stood for something that goes far beyond racial
borders. MLK Jr. stood for love,” Osofsky said.

The judges ““ among whom were professors, faculty and 2001
contest winner Martha Mangahas ““ judged the students on
content, organization, style and connection of their eight-minute
speeches to the theme quote.

“It is understood by the faculty that the speeches will
speak for themselves,” said Cheryl Sims, assistant director
of Program Services at ORL. “The importance of this event is
to honor Martin Luther King Jr. and to convey to young people what
he stood for.”

All six finalists, including second place contestant Andrea
Saenz, received a candy jar and a book about King. Tillotson also
received a book about King and had her name engraved on the plaque
that bears the names of all 14 winners since 1989.

“The words that these students said were
inspirational,” said history professor and judge Jose Moya
“It has a lasting effect on all of us.”