Commack Student Wins ERASE Racism Essay Contest

COMMACK, NY — Lakxshanna Raveendran, a student of Commack High School, was named one of four winners of ERASE Racism's 2021 "Raise Your Voice" essay contest for Long Island high school seniors.

The essay contest focused on discussing the importance of teaching students about the impact of racism throughout United States history.

"As I learned about the Middle East in my world history class, I was stunned when a peer said, ‘Who cares if they get bombed, they’re all terrorists anyway,’" Raveendran stated via news release. "Many Long Island schools are trapped in ‘bubbles’. Harmful rhetorics and racist sentiments are constantly repeated without intervention in our classrooms, bouncing back at students who then absorb them. Our schools are echo chambers: students learn biased narratives of history which reinforce stereotypical ideas and misconceptions about our society. Unfortunately, the predominantly white racial makeup of our schools has also created learning environments where students of color are treated as peripheral, as their narratives and histories have been ignored in our curricula."

Raveendran's essay can be read here.

The other winners are:

• Asha Brown – West Hempstead High School in West Hempstead.
• Annika Duhaney – Malverne Senior High School in Malverne.
• Gabriella Pesantez – Hewlett-Woodmere High School in Hewlett.