Diversity Writing Contest Contest Features A Wonderful Array Of Essays

The Inland Northwest often thinks of itself as a place with little racial or ethnic diversity.

Yet when The Spokesman-Review launched a diversity writing contest in January, we heard from Inland Northwest residents who had moved here from Bosnia, Korea and China, and from African Americans, Latinos and Native Americans whose ancestors have lived here for generations. We read stories of discrimination and reconciliation set in Munich and Mobile and Managua, as well as downtown Spokane, Grant Park and Ferris High School, 115 entries in all.

A group of judges from our staff were joined by Sherrie San Nicolas, a Gonzaga University student from the Pacific island of Saipan; ; Eileen K. Thomas, an African-American and a member of the Spokane Human Rights Commission; and Bob Bostwick and Brenda A. Abraham of the Council Fires newspaper in Plummer, Idaho, which serves the Coeur d’Alene Tribe.

The judges decided that the most moving stories were those that clearly articulated the pain and humiliation of discrimination, those that struggled to make sense of the searing repercussions of these deep wounds and those that vividly described the healing properties of generosity, dignity and respect.

The first-place winner will receive $100, and the second- and third-place winners $50. Their stories, along with those of five additional finalists, appear in IN Life today in honor of Black History Month.

We want to thank everyone who entered the contest for providing powerful glimpses of both the injustice and the integrity experienced by the people of the Inland Northwest. Your stories are among this community’s richest gifts.

, DataTimes