Civil Rights Memorial

Today was a very busy day for the group. We started off with a walking day in Montgomery Alabama. We started with a brief tour of the Grey Hound Bus Station (with an actual bus in which freedom riders were in) and the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church where Martin Luther King began his first full time pastor ship. We also met with the Equal Justice Initiative, an organization that works in the criminal justice system in hopes of minimizing the death role/ death sentence of the youth in particularly in Alabama. Along with walking around the town of Montgomery and touring Selma, we went to the Civil Rights Memorial.

This memorial was the most interesting to me because once we got in and went through security, the museum was a bit dark with the lighting and there were maybe quotes and photos with stories of respectable martyrs in the Civil Rights movement as well as individuals that have lost their lives either to try and better ours or those due to the great deal of systematic racism and intolerance of people of color by white oppressors. One story that I found very sad and depressing was of a man named Omar Dia who immigrated to the US in 1995 from Senegal, Africa to provide a better life for his family. And three years later he was shot by a 19 year old named Nathan Thrill who justified this gruesome and hateful action as "an act of passion". I had to reread this story more than once because I could not believe what I was reading and to imagine that this on only happened about 17 years ago, really just allowed me to wonder what the future is in store for our generation and the generations to come. 

Aicha Camara, Baltimore City College

Far from over

Today in Mississippi we were fortunate enough to go the Sunflower County Freedom Project, a non-profit organization that, in their words, work "to expand our students' concepts of what it means to be a leader and a motivated student. We push our students academically, socially, and physically." We were also fortunate enough to meet some of the kids who take advantage of this program and talk with them about our different communities. As our time there began to wind down we ended our visit with a group Q and A asking each other questions we were pondering. Towards the end of this session someone said something that moved me. A question was asked from one of the kids on our trip and it was something along the lines of, what is something that bothers you today about the community. One boy answered this by mentioning that something that greatly bothers him is that in a neighboring county, Bolivar, there is still a school where segregated proms still exists. That amazed me. I didn't believe it. 2016 and in the United States segregation is still alive and well in it's original form. The words of all the leaders and participants echoed in my head as I heard that, that a lot has been done but there's still a lot more to do and that it's up to us to continue to fight injustice. 

Steven Villa, The Park School of Baltimore  

Overlooked

Today in Birmingham we visited the 16th Street Baptist Church where 4 girls were killed by a hate crime, the park where the Children's March was met with dogs and hoses, spoke with Catherine Burks-Brooks of the original Freedom Rides, and Roscoe Jones of Freedom School work in Mississippi, but out of all these things one small moment really hit me. In all the places we've gone to I've felt like we were uncomfortably occupying a space between visiting historical sites and current exhibits of the continuing struggles in social justice movements. A moment like this that really hit me in Birmingham was that while we stood oggling over this church for its significance 50 years ago, a man sat on a ledge of the church wearing tattered clothes and shivering in the cold weather. I felt like we were overlooking the current state of things when it was just right in front of us, despite all of the talks we have where people say they are now realizing that the civil rights movement didn't get an ultimate ending and that there's still work to be done. I felt like we were all really hypocritical in that moment, and it showed to me a larger tendency to discuss good stuff in theory but not confront the work right in front of us. These sort of tendencies and a culture of contentment/inaction are major obstacles in the way of effecting change, and something we all need to figure out how to overcome, whatever factors may outweigh this on an individual basis.

Brooks Rubin, Baltimore City College

Money, Mississippi

Today in Money, Mississippi we went to the store where Emmett Till walked into and the river where he was buried. The store was in deep depression. Seeing the river puts things in real form. After we stopped by Sunflower County where kids around Mississippi seek help because their schools don't provide life-learning lessons. While we were visiting we had couple of group activities to break the ice. One of the activities required us to be in groups of 3 and place stickers on the statement that best fits your community. I was grouped with one boy named Mr. Jackson and him his friends were laughing because they didn't have much and they would try to say that it isn't that bad but they all just were so positive and grateful. I broke down because my heart was broken hearing them try to cover up with a sense of humor but they are proud of where they came from. As we left one of the girls asked to take pictures and she said, "please come back" as she said that her head was down and she walked away really sad. I was moved because that little bit of time we had with them made such a difference to them and me and I'm going to continue the communication with them to keep their spirits up. So To Be Continued...Sunflower County.

Nia Jean-Baptiste, City Neighbors High School

Mississippi

Yesterday was a very powerful day and it evoked a lot of emotion and conversation. Yesterday in the morning we went to Medgar Evers house and saw with our own eyes where he was assassinated. Which make you think about how much hatred there would have to be to take someone's life just because they have a different skin color. Mr. Evers was not the first that this had been done to either; there is a long list of men, women and children who died just because they wanted to make a difference. It speaks to how often shootings had happen when we saw the sons' bed on he floor and not raised so that they did not get shot at. So they had no problem killing children and that makes your realize that this is an ongoing fight that must continue through this generation. 

Next we went and saw where Emmett Till supposedly flirted with a white woman and because just that he was brutally slain in hatred. This building although the was not a good place it was not represented well, it was run down and dirty and only, yet there is a refurbished gas station next door and  it seemed like. No one cares about that part of history. This also shows how far we need to go to get justice. 

Mark Alston, Baltimore City College

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere"

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" Martin Luther King Jr. This quote was the one thing that keep running through my mind, at my time spent in the sunflower county community fellows center . Coming to Mississippi made me really appreciate what I have taken granted of on a daily basis. I never thought that I should be as grateful, I feel like I really need to make a difference. Seeing them in that little town and hearing them talking about how there schools are still segregated because they don't have the money to pay for private schools. I was shocked when one of the boys said that he was upset that they still have segregated proms. That just made me realize that we are still not done equality is still not served. We no longer face racism in the form of physical beating to death or lynching. But we face racism in other forms of oppression like the school to jail pipeline and black on black crime. I feel like the biggest reason for this is unequal education. Schools today are still pretty much segregated because the Wealthy go to private, charter, or better schools that's are kept better because their schools have more support and money from the community. They are more then likely majority white. Then sadly the middle class and poor students end up in public schools that are not cared for in usually bad areas or filled with students from bad areas, and they are usually minority's. This was a moment of reconciliation for me because I began to notice that these kids have very scarce resources to get to college, and many students like me don't realize all the opportunities we have, and how much easier it is for us, we take that for granted. I left Mississippi knowing that I had a vow to myself to use the resources I have to help others in need.


Evangeline Bemah-Stokes, Hope High School

Privilege

Yesterday we visited the Sunflower Country Freedom Project in Sunflower County, Mississippi.  The experience we had with the teachers and students we met were something I had never really experienced before. Yes, they were in one of the poorest areas of the state--and the country--but they were happy and engaged and so excited to learn. I think for many of us it made us think critically about the privilege we have at home and push us, at least me, to feel so lucky and grateful for where I am. 

When we got back on the bus people began to talk about privilege, however it quickly devolved into a discussion of who has more privileged and in a way pinning guilt or shaming certain groups on the bus. This resulted in people getting defensive and angry and subsequently segregating themselves into the people they know and the schools they came with. 

This made me angry. This made me frustrated.  This movement is so much bigger than one persons privilege; or two peoples privilege; or the tuition of someone's school; or the neighborhood they live in. Looking at things on a personal level does nothing but divide people and because of that we have to move past that. People who are privileged have to claim that and move past it. No one is asking you to justify your privilege; rather people are asking you to utilize it and contribute to work to create a world where places like The Freedom Project don't have to exist.  

I was so frustrated and angry last night because I felt as if we were being self-centered. We were far more focused on talking about our own privilege than talking about what we can do to change things. 

Although tensions were high and people were upset I'm glad that that moment of tension happened. I hope that when we get home and someone sees injustice, like we saw yesterday, they will act rather than remain passive; they will change their behavior rather than remain static, and I think that's the aim and the value in this trip.            

Speaking more personally, I've seen things I thought no longer existed. Seeing places where racism and prejudice is not only alive and well but being preserved is something I wasn't prepared for and it deeply upsets me. However, in the words of Mr. Henson and Mark "you have to let it go.". Getting caught up in feelings surrounding our privilege isn't conducive to change, rather it fosters an environment in which we remain static. And so I challenge every person on this trip to acknowledge his or her privilege but move past it.  Use that anger and that frustration to create a world that John Lewis and Andrew Young and Mr. Henson and even Dr. King would be proud of, because this is bigger than us.

Sarah Riback, Baltimore City College