Bruins call for activism during contest

Published: Monday, February 1, 1999

Monday, February 1, 1999

KING: Speech event

honors activists Gandhi, King with music, poetry, oratories

By George Fujii

Daily Bruin Contributor

Challenges to change the world, the sound of Afro-Cuban music and the UCLA Gospel Choir greeted a packed Northwest Campus Auditorium Thursday at the 11th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Oratorical Contest.

The contest, sponsored by the Office of Residential Life's Multicultural Programming Committee, featured six speeches centered on the theme, "You must be the change you wish to see in the world," a quotation by Mahatma Gandhi.

The idea for the contest originated in 1988 with Delaphine Prysock, Sproul Hall's residential director, who had seen similar contests at Central Michigan University.

King, a Baptist minister, gained fame for his nonviolent methods of achieving social change. A student of India's Ghandi, he is most famous for a 1963 march on Washington, where he delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech.

King's work toward a colorblind society was cut short by his 1968 assassination at 37.

First, second and third places in the contest went to Eddie Hsu, Stacy Lor and Christopher Young, respectively. Hsu also won the 1997 contest.

A screening committee of students and ORL staff reduced 15 applicants to six finalists, according to Rod Kadota, ORL's central area director and programming committee member. The committee also nominated the six contest judges which included professors, Hilgard House community assistants and ORL staff.

"The screening of the candidates was a very challenging process," said Lisa Hale, a first-year biology student and screening committee member.

The eight-minute speeches were judged on their structure, content and style, said judging coordinator and ORL staff member Amy Gershon.

The two-and-a-half hour contest included musical performances and a poetry reading, as well as the six speeches.

Adam Rosenthal, a first-year history student, spoke about the importance of individual actions. He explained how great projects can fail when people do not participate and concluded with a call for a "social action requirement at UCLA for graduation."

Young, a first-year physiological science and Spanish student, exhorted students to become activists.

"Martin Luther King Day is the annual picture for the need for social change," he said. "We must become the next generation of leaders that will fight the good fight."

Hsu, a fourth-year English and Chinese student, spoke about the difficulties of change.

"Let's face it, we don't want to change," he said.

Hsu described the problems of a safe and comfortable apathy. "The greatest tragedy of physical slavery is that it leads to mental slavery," he said.

After a short musical and dance interlude, Sachin Mehta, a fourth-year mathematics and economics student, raised the question, "What does Ghandi know about living in 1999?"

Mehta, the 1998 contest winner, asked what King and Ghandi would know about today's world in which "anything goes."

Jonah Lalas, a first-year political science and philosophy student, described the importance of diversity through the metaphor of "a kaleidoscope of beautiful racial colors."

Lor, a second-year political science student, compared the game of Jenga to the game of life.

Jenga is a game in which players try to move blocks from the bottom to the top of a pile without making the entire structure collapse.

Lor used Jenga to explain the need for "a foundation of unconditional love."

She explained that without the foundation of love, efforts to end racial injustice would be like moving Jenga blocks. "We have truly underestimated the power of love," Lor said.

While the six judges deliberated, the UCLA Gospel Choir performed several works, including the hymn, "I Love You, Lord."

Joshua Smith, a UCLA alumnus, served as the master of ceremonies. Smith, now a graduate student at USC, won the King Oratorical Contest in 1995 and 1996.

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