This poetry contest was organized by local organizations We Got This LBC, Friends of MLK Park and The SIX MLK Celebration Committee. These organizations put in the work to conduct a poetry contest and choose one winner from high school, middle school and elementary school. The following poems are those winners, reprinted with permission from the organizing groups.
Ry Thomas
12th grade | Cabrillo High School
We rise because staying silent never changed a thing.
Because comfort is easy, but justice demands courage.
We stand on a dream that was never meant to made,
A dream handed to us, asking what we’ll do with it.
He dreamed of a world that saw people, not labels.
Where fairness wasn’t a privilege, but a promise.
Yet we are still here, facing the same battles,
Still proving his words were right to demand action.
Rising means showing up when it’s uncomfortable.
Standing means speaking even when our voices shake.
It means calling out wrong instead of scrolling past it,
And choosing unity over hate, no matter what it takes.
His dream lives in our choices
In classrooms where we include, not exclude.
In streets where peace is louder than division.
In moments when doing right isn’t popular, but necessary.
We rise not because the work is finished,
But because it is ours now.
So rise up. Stand firm.
The dream lives through us.
Aubree Sharon Gillis
Grade 6 | Hughes Middle School
“Stand up for Dr. King’s Dream”
Dr. King had a dream
that everybody could be free,
no matter what they look like
they could be what they wanted to be.
He wanted us to be kind,
to help each other out,
to use our voices to speak up,
not just scream and shout
So let’s all stand up for his dream,
and make the world more fair.
We can start doing little things,
like showing that we care.
Elizabeth “Lizzy” Manson
Grade 5 | Newcomb Academy
M ade all of us open our eyes to see how the world should be
A ll must be treated equally
R espected others in the midst of racism
T he Dream we all need to follow
I n the midst of hate stand up
N ever give up when it comes to fighting for equality
L ove one another
U nity and rise up against hate
T hought all should learn together
H ad a dream to help everyone
E veryday he showed so we must rise up
R ised up and never gave up
K ept walking, preaching, and fighting for what he believed in
I nspired all with his dream
N ourished our mind with peace, love, and courage
G reat American in so many ways! MLK
