Hundreds filled the Hylton Memorial Chapel on Monday, Jan. 20, for the 35th Annual Martin Luther King Day Program and the 30th Annual Youth Oratorical Competition.
The event featured speeches from the three top orators in the middle and high school levels as well as performances of the MLK Community Choir.
The event is organized for the community by the Prince William County Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority.
Zion Fozo, a Potomac High School student, won the first place award for top orator in the high school contest in 2020. Fozo spoke about how slavery has been "redesigned" in the modern era, in part because of the "forced slavery" in the nation's for-profit prisons.
"We still wear the chains, but this time the chains are in our minds and in our economic energies," Fozo said.
Contestants and presenters onstage at the 35th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Oratorical Competition and Program.
Zion Fozo, of Potomac High School, was the winner of the high school level oratorical contest. Fozo spoke about how slavery has been "redesigned" in the modern era, in part because of the "forced slavery" in the nation's for-profit prisons.
Myles Lanier, a Manassas Park Middle School student, won first place in the middle school oratorical competition.
Nyella Asterilla, an eighth-grader at Hampton Middle School, said black and brown people are still oppressed. “We the oppressed are tired of watching America tear minorities down,” she said in her speech. “Americans are tired of turning on the TV and seeing immigrant children ripped from a pleading mother’s hands, or another dead, unarmed, innocent black man.”
Hanaan Khabir, of Osbourn Park High School, spoke of the exonerated Central Park Five during her speech. "The worst crime these children committed was being not white," Khabir said.
Jessica Gyamfi, of Colgan High School, spoke about the need for her generation to speak out against racism and oppression.
"If we do not speak up now, the problems we face will be the same problems our children will face every day of their lives," Gyamfi said. "That's not living, that's just not being dead."
Finalists in the middle and high school oratorical competition watched the six top students in the oratorical competition present their speeches onstage.
Rep. Gerald Connolly, far left, was among several people recognized for contributing to the MLK Day celebration's success over the years. The event is presented annually by the Prince William County Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority.
In his remarks, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., noted that the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., would have turned 91 on Jan. 15. King was murdered 51 years ago in Memphis, Tennessee.
Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-11th, speaks at the Hylton Memorial Chapel last January for the annual Martin Luther King, Jr., celebration.
Zion Fozo, left, of Potomac High School, and Nyles Lanier, left, of Manassas Park Middle School, second from left, were the high school and middle school winners, respectively, of the oratorical competition.
Several elementary school students were recognized as winners of the essay competition held in conjunction with the oratorical contest.
Joann Bagnerise, third from left, and School Board member Lillie Jessie (Occoquan), second from right, are two founders of the 35th annual MLK Day program.
This year marked the 30th annual youth oratorical contest, which coincides with the community event.
Nyles Lanier, left, of Manassas Park Middle School, and Zion Fozo, right, of Potomac High School, were the middle and high school winners, respectively, of the oratorical competition.
The MLK Community Choir performs “Happy Birthday” and “Blessings on Blessings” during the event.
Quenten Cantey, Katrina Stubbs and Sabrina Turner, former MLK Community Choir members, perform at the start of the program.
Meltony Billie, of the Unspeakable Joy Mime ministry, performs to the songs “Heal the Land” and “My Country Tis of Thee” during the 35th Annual Martin Luther King Day event.
Superintendent Steven Walts and Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chair Ann Wheeler, in background right, were among several local officials in the audience at the MLK Day celebration.
Audience members rise to applaud during the 35th Annual Martin Luther King Day program held Monday, Jan. 20 in Woodbridge.
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