Long Island Seniors Honored For Racism Essays

SYOSSET, NY — A pair of local seniors were named winners of the annual "Raise Your Voice" essay contest.

The creative writing project run by ERASE Racism focuses on the importance of teaching students about the impact of racism throughout history.

Each winner gets a $500 scholarship through SCOPE Educational Services in Smithtown.

• Asha Brown – West Hempstead High School

An excerpt of her winning entry:

"I am 16 when the January 6, 2021 insurrection occurs. Outraged, I remarked to my Social Studies teacher that if the ‘protestors’ had been black and brown, they would not have reached the Capitol steps. To my dismay, he responds, ‘There is no way to know.’ Crippled with disappointment, I raise the multitude of peaceful Black Lives Matter protests that were met with tear gas, batons, and arrests and wonder why this evidence is not enough."

• Annika Duhaney – Malverne Senior High School

From her essay:

"Even as a kid, you could pick up on it. It was subtle, but noticeable enough for six-year-old me to catch on. I didn’t need to ask if it was happening. The evidence surrounded me. I’d see it in my neighborhood, in the streets I’d bike with my sister, and in my mother’s frustrated grimace as she was caught mid school-morning-drive by yet another red light. Attending school made it even more apparent, a mere detail becoming an undeniable realization. Only people of color lived beyond that stoplight. By second grade, all of those odd details began to pile up; you’d see the roads coated in cracks, the smaller houses, the park forever dilapidated, the grounds covered in litter and the swing chains rusted. As apparent as it seemed to me, this fact was completely ignored at school, as if the racial segregation was only to be understood, not to be discussed."

ERASE Racism is a civil rights organization based on Long Island that exposes and addresses the devastating impact of historical and ongoing structural racism, particularly in public school education and housing.