Sit-in Simulation

Yesterday, we visited Greensboro and spent a few hours at a civil museum at Woolworths, where the sit-in movements first took place. Weirdly though, it wasn't until today in Atlanta that I really got a good understanding of what the students at the sit-in went through. At the center for civil and human rights, we had the opportunity to sit down at a diner counter for what was supposed to be a simulation of what the sit-ins were like. After waiting in a pretty long line, I got up to the counter, put on the headphones, put my hands on the counter where I was supposed to and closed my eyes. At first, I heard the voice of a man just telling me to stay calm and not react, but I had to open my eyes because it sounded so realistic that I swore it was real. Then, the voices switch to shouting and threats from voices right in my ear. You could hear the breathing, and then a man yelling "I'll stab you with my fork right here", followed by the sound of glass breaking. The chair began to shake as if someone had just kicked it, and the experience was so indescribably realistic that I barely lasted 50 seconds at the counter. It's not that I assumed the sit-ins were easy, but I don't think I've ever experienced the level of fear I had while sitting in that chair, even though I knew I was actually safe. I guess it was just so hard to comprehend how incredibly terrifying these protests were, and I can't even imagine lasting 10 minutes, let alone all day for six months. What's really hard to understand is how this could happen, and how real people could feel so justified in their hatred that they felt comfortable threatening the lives of people for sitting in chairs. As scary as the simulation, there's nothing scarier than knowing these individuals who were harassing and threatening the students had better police protection than the students themselves. Altogether, the simulation was a severely eye-opening exercise, and stood out as then most powerful moment of this trip to me so far.

Hayley Miller, The Park School of Baltimore