SAN DIEGO — February is Black History Month and a great opportunity to celebrate the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior. In this Zevely Zone, I visited Pershing Middle School for a touching tribute.
"I drove by here yesterday and I saw this big beautiful heart," said Linda Rice.
She is a San Carlos resident who told me four words on a fence forced her to pull her car over and pick up the phone.
"I said, this is a Jeff Zevely story, it's got to be it's so much heart," said Linda.
There we stood in front of a huge heart made out of red ribbons on a fence with the words, "I HAVE A DREAM". It didn't take long to figure out who was leading with their heart. A 7th grader named Lea Olory and her mom Christine set up shop and started carefully cutting red ribbons.
"You want to come write a message. Come on over," they said to students.
Two posters on the fence helped tell the story of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior.
"I would like all of the kids to think of him as a true American hero. He was killed and we shall not forget that," said Christine.
A nine-year-old student named Sukie wrote 'Dreams come true'.
"Because he had a dream and it came true," said Sukie.
The goal is to fill this heart with words the words MLK Jr. not only died to hear but died for. Students lined up to share the words they wrote on their ribbons and tied to the fence.
"Everyone is equal."
"Peace and love."
"Bravery."
"I chose bravery because I found Martin Luther King to be a very brave man for all of the boycotts he did and standing for civil rights," said a 12-year-old named Luke.
Susan Levy, Pershing Middle School's principal wrote two words on her ribbon. "Mine was peace and on the other side I wrote mercy," said Susan.
"I have a dream that we will all get out of this pandemic and be back at school because I miss my children."
So, from teachers like Mr. Halvorsen who wrote "Tolerance" to students like Helena wrote "Equality", they lined up.
"Because he wanted us all to be equal and we all have equal rights," said Helena.
We all thank the courage of a 7th grader named Leah. She admitted she was a little worried that people wouldn't show up.
"Yeah I was," she said.
Yet, so many people did because sometimes a fence can bring people together.
All across San Diego youngsters are leading the charge for positivity.
"They are, they definitely are, and they are the future, they are what we are doing a lot of this for so I think it's wonderful," said Linda Rice.
The next time something moves your heart give me a call and we'll feature the story in the Zevely Zone.
"Oh, look at that, equality," said Linda. "Kindness, these kids are on the right track."
The MLK artwork will continue to grow through the month of February at Pershing Middle School. Residents are welcome to add their thoughts to the tribute.