Ammon News - The 12-year-old artist from Oregon Islamic Academy on Scholls Ferry Road was recently named this year’s winner of the Human Rights Council of Washington County’s poster contest, an annual event that gets kids thinking about the importance of equality and diversity.

“I have friends and families from different backgrounds,” she said, “I started making a different person for each different race.”

Diversity was something Alkhatib knew something about. The daughter of a Vietnamese mother and Jordanian father, Alkhatib set to work with this year’s theme: “Every Human Has Rights.”

“I can be very deep sometimes,” she said, matter-of-factly. “So I decided to draw it. (Human rights) are very important, if we didn’t have them, then everyone would be at war.”

Her poster was voted the winner out of more than 100 entries submitted across Washington County, earning her the grand prize of $100, which her mother said will probably go toward art supplies.

This is the second year in a row that a student at OIA has claimed the grand prize.

Last year’s winner Sophia Qamar is a friend of Alkhatib’s.

An avid artist since the age of 3, Alkhatib researched traditional clothing and flags from various countries.

It took her about two weeks to perfect her drawing, she said.

The poster features the five figures — representing Europeans, Africans, Asians, Arabs and South Americans — encircling the Earth, along with the words “We all have rights.”

Each of the figures hold a scroll with a different word on it, spelling out the phrase “We all can see it.”

“Can you?” the final caption reads.

Alkhatib’s poster represents peace and harmony among all races, she said.

The poster contest has also influenced Alkhatib. She said she plans on entering more art competitions and would like to draw comics when she gets older.

She’s working on her first book already, a Japanese style manga comic about twins, the army, execution and being warped into different dimensions.

“And there’s a big twist at the end,” she said.

Copies of her poster will be given to government officials across the county and will appear in a roving exhibit by the Oregon Area Jewish Committee.

Alkhatib and other winners will be recognized during the Human Rights Council’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration on Jan. 16.

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