(Prayer offered on the Public Address system for the La Salle Academy educational community on the morning of 18 March 2014)

Hi, my name is Savannah Stewart and I’m a senior on the Diversity Committee. I would like to take this time to invite all of you and your families to come to the Event: An International Celebration. Tonight we’ll be celebrating the diversity within the Lasallian community with student performances and a potluck dinner. It starts at 6 in the cafeteria, so be there.

In light of the celebration tonight the committee asked members of the Student Body to offer their own intentions concerning diversity throughout the Lasallian community.  I will read these intentions as a representative of this larger community of individuals to share their voices, their hopes and their prayers.

Let us remember we are in the holy presence of a loving God,

I pray that everyone sees me as a person with potential; someone with a kind heart and a good personality, despite any preconceptions or stereotypes about who I am or what I am good at.

I pray that teachers and students view me as a person that can achieve academic success.

I pray that I can make it through today without hearing the ‘N word’ or any other discriminatory term that creates disunity or disharmony within our larger community.

 

I pray that people ask me my ethnicity before suspecting that I and every other Hispanic in this school are of Mexican descent.

I pray that people embrace their classmates’ differences and respect them here at La Salle

I pray that students will not fear their classmates because of the color of their skin or the loudness of their voice

I pray that I can go through a day of school without being judged or being called “ghetto.”

I pray that every race and ethnicity in this school can be respected and that comments won’t be made based on stereotypes or prejudices of any kind.

Lord, let us remember all of those who are discriminated for their race, religion, or beliefs around the world and pray for an end to this injustice. Give us the strength to stand up against the injustices that occur within our own community. Finally, allow us to break down the barriers caused by our differences so we can include and celebrate the things that make us so unique and amazing.

St. John Baptist De La Salle…..   Pray for us

Live Jesus in our hearts……  Forever