Continuing Dr. King's Message

It’s always wonderful to return to Bement after our winter break to see the community happily reconnecting with one another and the children industriously enjoying a playground full of snow. We also return to school in January with a very clear purpose–to honor and learn from the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In these cold, dark weeks, it feels good to gather together in small and large groups to remind ourselves of Dr. King’s dream and affirm our personal and school commitments to his mission.

In the lower school, we started our conversations about Dr. King very shortly after returning from winter break. At our first Monday morning meeting of 2024, we used a Venn diagram to see how Bement’s core values of compassion, integrity, resilience, and respect intersect with Dr. King’s message. We thought about how his work resonates in our day to day lives at school.

In the subsequent weeks, our goal was to have the children continue to circle back to his message in a variety of ways, and to reflect on how we can continue to echo it in our own lives. At another Monday morning meeting, we read We Dream a World by King’s 15-year-old granddaughter, Yolanda Renee. We also watched a brief interview with her where she described her goal in writing the book as an opportunity for people to reconnect with King’s message and carry it forth into today’s world. Because history can sometimes feel very distant to young children, our students may have been surprised to discover that Dr. King would be a grandfather today and that his only grandchild is continuing his work, and calling us to join her.

In individual classrooms, as well as in Keith and Drake morning meetings, the reading of books and engaging in meaningful conversations continued our collaborative focus on Dr. King’s message. It was exciting to hear Keith House students echo the important phrases such as, “hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that,” from Martin’s Big Words. Some Drake students read and analyzed a poem called “I Have a Dream.” Another class talked about the difference between equality and equity. They analyzed scenarios in their lives where it was important to understand the difference.

A special morning meeting and an afternoon performance took place on Martin Luther King Day. These events brought our entire community together twice to learn more and to further explore our shared values. From hearing the children’s book I Am My Ancestor’s Wildest Dreams read aloud, to learning about other activists who worked with King to make change, to watching a ninth grade-created video of their impressions of the King Memorial from their trip to Washington D.C., to singing freedom songs together and understanding their significance, our Martin Luther King Day celebration was rich with inspiration and opportunities to feel engaged. I was especially proud of our lower schoolers who answered complex questions with confidence during these whole school discussions.

Our learning about Bement’s core values and Dr. King’s vital messages doesn’t stop because his birthday is now behind us. Conversations and work related to diversity, equity, and inclusion continue throughout the year in all the classrooms. While our focus on King Day this year was his life and message, our commitment to diversity at Bement goes well beyond. In our professional development and daily practice, our commitment to diversity in its many forms, including religion, socio-economic status, race and ethnicity, family structure, sexuality and gender, learning style, ability, and culture is valued and developed. We are always striving to learn more as well as share more with our students, and one another.