Communicative Sciences and Disorders graduate student Shabathyah Charles and other students submitted pieces on the theme “Legacy Begins with Me.”
Produced by Washington Square News
On February 4, NYU held the 20th annual MLK Spoken Word Contest (formerly the MLK Oratorical Contest) as part of its larger NYU MLK Week. The event was hosted by the Graduate Student Organization (GSO), which has hosted this event for the last 20 years.
The theme for this year’s contest was “Legacy Begins with Me,” which invited participants to focus on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s legacy of fighting against oppression and segregation with love and perseverance.
“We wanted to give students the opportunity to reflect on what they want their legacy to look like,” says Media, Culture, and Communication graduate student Pritha Mukherji, co-chair of the Spoken Word Contest’s planning committee. “Every little change that has ever started starts from us, from someone raising their voice and having an opinion. So why not take that opinion and express it in a way that establishes the building blocks of the legacy we wish to leave behind?”
Held in the Pless Hall Lobby, the MLK Spoken Word Contest featured a keynote address from Adam D-F. Stevens (MA ’18, Drama Therapy), artistic director for Steinhardt’s CollideOscope Repertory Theatre Company and Steinhardt's 2024 Disruptor of the Year. They spoke about how joy and love can also be forms of resistance and how we can use these feelings to build our history, especially when we are living in a time where history is being erased, and communities are being triggered.
“Our society tends to look at things in black and white, and that’s why these sorts of events are so important,” says Communicative Sciences and Disorders (CSD) graduate student Manuella Asare, the planning committee’s other co-chair. “There are a vast number of stories that need to be told from many different perspectives and voices. What we hope people can take away from this kind of event is that it’s important to share who we are with each other. Storytelling is never harmful.”
This year’s winner was Toluwalase Akinluyi (Global Public Health), with second place going to Yeshua Ellis (Silver School of Social Work). Steinhardt CSD graduate student Shabathyah Charles won the third-place award for her poem.
Legacy begins with me
Me
Beautiful black me
Getting my master’s degree
All because he had a dream
“I approached my piece by thinking about how Dr. King’s legacy was passed down and now lives within me, so in what ways am I still walking his legacy and contributing to Black advancement and activism?” says Charles. “Adam’s words set the stage for the rest of the event, speaking power and beauty into us all, and seeing the courage of the other participants made me more courageous as well.”
Charles enjoys writing poetry and posting it on her Instagram page, but this is one of the first times she has spoken her work publicly. When she graduates next year, she hopes to become a speech-language-pathologist and work in schools with children.
Read Charles’s MLK Spoken Word Contest piece below:
MLK Legacy Begins With Me Poem
by Shabathyah Charles
Legacy begins with me
Me
Beautiful black me
Getting my master’s degree
All because he had a dream
Legacy begins with me
Me
Who writes poetry
To express all that I am and want to be
Who's still learning how to make a difference in my community
Beautiful black me
Sometimes I hear Martin Luther King singing glory to be
I play it over and over in my head
Dancing to it in public
That’s what freedom means to me
All because he had a dream
A dream that never really ended
No,
It was merely passed down to me
We
And like a baton
We carry it from hand to hand
Sankofa is a word from the Akan Tribe of Ghana in the language Twi meaning go back and get it
The symbol pictures a bird that is looking backward with an egg in its mouth
Meaning we move forward by looking at our past
Meaning we know how to take the next step
When we analyze all of our ancestors steps
Meaning learn from the past to inform your future
Meaning I cannot do this without your legacy
Meaning remember what happened in its fullness.
Not just the pain and oppression
Not just the suffering, but the lessons
The glory and the triumph
So today I’m standing somewhere at the intersection of Black and Beautiful
Somewhere at the crossing of courage and resistance
Somewhere at the paths of love and commitment
Somewhere where dreams are made
Where they come into fruition
Today I’m standing somewhere at the intersection of culture and tradition
Of flavor and art
Music and rhythm
Braids, locs, afros, and twists
Embracement and pride
Today I’m standing somewhere at the intersection of power and strength
Of ebonics and fashion
Of rich hair and skin
Joy and laughter
I’m somewhere in Africa and in the Caribbean
History doesn’t repeat itself but it rhymes
It rhymes
It rhymes
And Black history didn’t start with slavery
Perhaps we all know it started somewhere at the intersection of Kings and Queens
Somewhere by a pot of riches
Continents away from oppression
History doesn’t repeat itself but it rhymes
It rhymes
It rhymes
Legacy begins with me
With we
See his dream never really ended, it was merely passed down to me, to we, like a baton
And we carry it from hand to hand somewhere at the intersections of sisterhood and brotherhood
Related Articles
Lauren Mims and Kyle Morris Win 2025 MLK Awards
As part of the 20th Annual MLK Week at NYU, the University recognized exceptional faculty, staff, and administrators who embody the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dedication to inclusivity and justice.
Adam D-F. Stevens (MA ’18) Named 2024 Steinhardt Disruptor of the Year
The Spirit of Steinhardt Awards recognize alumni who are Disruptors, Visionaries, and Ascending Champions of our global community.
MLK Contest Features Student Orations, Alum Keynote
Participants from across NYU delivered spoken word performances on the theme “Our Collective Liberation.”
