2019 Civil Rights Project at SBP

My enlightening experience

2019-06-06T09:06:00.002-04:00

This journey impacted me in so many ways, it has taught me lessons and values that I will hold dear to me for the rest of my life. In so many ways I feel truly disenfranchised from my ancestors, I don’t know my true origin. That’s something that bothers me everyday, and this trip helped me to get deeper understanding of their struggles. I won’t pretend like I know it all, we honestly barely scratched the surface of what there is to know about our people. Before this trip, I thought I knew it all. I thought slavery and Jim Crow was the beginning and end of oppression towards minorities. I didn’t have a good understanding of institutional racism, until we learned about red-lining, mass incarceration, inadequate housing etc. This trip provided me with a deeper motivation to speak out against injustice for everyone.

Learning about the struggles of people who came before me, the trailblazers who made it possible for me to have an education humbled me. I was also so ashamed of myself, for wasting the efforts my people made for me to get an education. It was illegal for slaves to learn how to read and write, it was illegal for black students and white students to attend school together. What’s my excuse?

I attend one of the best schools in New Jersey in my honest opinion, I have a surplus amount of opportunity to succeed, and I choose not to. Not anymore. If I won’t succeed for me, or my family, I’ll succeed for the thousands of people who sacrificed their lives to make sure I’m in a position to succeed. That’s my word.

In my life I’ve been around a lot of black males, but very few black men. On this trip I learned what it truly means to be a black man, a man with honor, pride, respect, intelligence and compassion. These are all values I will hold with me when I’m raising my children. I will be the best father a man could possibly be if I stay true to the values that I learned. I want to thank everyone who made it possible for me to attend this trip, and the wonderful people who hosted us, fed us, and welcomed us as if we were family. A special thanks for Mr.Scanlan, and Dr. Lansang for thinking of this project.

Black and Proud

2019-06-06T09:06:00.001-04:00

Three weeks of studying the civil rights in the South was an incredible experience. However, with the incredible experience came an ebb and flow effect where the class was exhausting emotionally and physically. By the end of the trip I had become so exhausted that in the last museum I went to with the class, I could barely read, stand, or talk. Part of the reason was because for three weeks straight, all of my energy was directed towards a topic that was ugly, beautiful, and difficult. By the time I entered the gift shop, I felt inclined to do something optimistic and joyful in anyway. I bought myself a Black Panther hoodie. And although the Black Panthers also have a difficult history, I needed something that screamed I am Black and Proud.

When the van finally reached Newark, I looked outside the window, and I was overjoyed. I missed my home. But, when I saw the cracked floors, dirty houses, and unkempt grounds, I had a flashback to when I was ten years old. I told someone that I live in Newark, and the person responded negatively and said, “Isn’t Newark bad?”. I would try to justify that by saying, “I live in the good part of Newark,” as if I lived in a part of Newark that was not surrounded by poverty. After visiting communities Down South with houses that are huge and beautiful and houses that looked as though they were about to collapse, once I entered Newark, I accepted that I live in an impoverished community.

Travelling Down South helped me to look at my life critically. I discovered that living in poverty does not have to be a bad thing. The Black and Brown people who I see on the streets every day in Newark do not need to be ashamed of their circumstances. Many who live in the impoverished communities do not need to compensate where they live for usually things that are “luxury.” In Newark, the people who live in poverty should instead recognize how blessed they are to have had thousands of people fight and die for their rights and even a place to live.

When I was driving along South Orange Ave. from St. Barnabas, in Livingston, before entering Newark, I only saw big houses, some white people on the street and few Blacks. However, once I entered Newark, I only saw Black kids, Black teenagers, and Black adults all on the streets and at the corner store with many dealing drugs. All these people who were on the street were surrounded by poverty. I did not want to judge too much, because for many standing doing activities late at night is surviving. But I had to question whether what they were doing was right. I believe that if these people had been the least bit aware of how many people died for the opportunities that we have now---in the South and even in Newark---these people that I saw on the street would not be on that street.

In Alabama, I visited the Southern Poverty Law center, and I took a pledge “to take a stand against hate, injustice and intolerance." I vowed that "I will work in my daily life for justice, equality and human rights - the ideals for which the Civil Rights martyrs died.” Whether the person is Black, white, yellow, or brown, leaving any person unaware of the many things that Civil Rights martyrs died for is an injustice. I believe that if my community if it educates everyone about Black history, and the sacrifices that were made by countless people during the Civil Rights Movement, if we are all taught that it was greater than just Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks, through school, block parties, and even parades, if we learn all this, then city of Newark can change.

I will always remember...

2019-06-06T09:06:00.000-04:00

This trip to the South is by far the most intense, heart-breaking and intellectual experience that I’ve had in my entire high school career. We met a few people who were actually there when the Civil Rights movement was taking place. I appreciate the fact that the people we spoke to did not sugarcoat anything. They were very blunt and honest with us. They told us the facts no matter how cruel it sounded.
There were a couple things that struck me with me more than others from our trip. The first was when we visited 16th Street Baptist Church, where four young African-American girls were bombed and killed. While we were in the church, we watched a video on the incident. This was extremely hard for me to watch because it reminded me of my little sister. About five years ago, my little sister was kidnapped and killed in Haiti. My little sister was around the same the age as the four the children who died in the bombing of the church.
Before we had went into the Church, we listened to Dr. King’s Eulogy at the funeral of the four young children. Dr. King said that we need to believe that the bombers are still capable of loving, and they deserve our forgiveness. This made me think about my life.

I still hold grudges and anger in my heart. I don’t want to do that any more, but I don’t know how to let go. Nothing can bring my little sister back, and nothing will ever be able to make this situation right. So how can I possibly forgive? It seems impossible, but I know that others have done it. If the parents of those four children were capable of forgiving their persecutors than I am too. This trip inspired me to learn how to forgive.
Another moment I cannot stop thinking about is our meeting with some of the teachers and students from Coahoma County High School in Clarksdale, Mississippi. We had a very disturbing conversation with them about their education system. There’s currently a teacher shortage in Coahoma County High School. As a result, the students have to take some of their classes online, and many teachers have to teach subjects that they were not trained to teach. So you have teachers presenting material that they themselves don’t fully understand. The people who work on the board of education get paid good money, but they will not give the school the proper funds to buy school materials. When I was listening to Shemar and Freddy talking about their experience at Coahoma County High School, it got me angry. People are always telling me to “stay in school, stay in school,” but the education system is failing those kids at Coahoma County. I admire Freddy and Shemar so much because even though their education system is terrible, they are still finding ways to be successful. I admire some of the teachers at Coahoma County who are putting maximum effort to helping the students be successful both in and outside of school.
As I was listening to the teachers and students of Coahoma County High School speak about their education system, I felt this calling to come back to Mississippi and help be a part of the solution. I don’t know when and how, but I certainly feel like I’m going to spend a portion of my life in Mississippi one way or another.
I’m grateful to have had this experience, and I definitely believe that this project needs to happen again.

My life will be a way to honor their sacrifice

2019-06-04T08:54:00.000-04:00

My experience during this journey was amazing -- I didn’t think I would feel this way about the south. I thought I knew it all, mainly because had been to the south prior to this trip. So unlike most of the guys, I had a glimpse of what people and life was like in the south. On the history part, I thought that I knew pretty much everything. Some of the information I knew, but even though I knew these things, this trip went deeper into detail and to me was a great part of my experience. Another thing that made this trip even better was being in the places were these events actually happened, and it made it even more personal.

I never thought I would become as close with the guys as I did. We all knew each other but I’m sure most guys weren’t close friends before class began. I feel as though we did a great job of not fighting and helping each other through the harder emotional times during the trip. I don’t think it could been a better group of guys and two teachers to do this trip with.

This journey made me realize that other people should be educated about our history, especially people of color, because if they did I don’t think they would do what that do. They need to know that there were people who fought and died for us to have these rights which we didn’t have before. Once they are educated on the history, then as people they can move forward.

I learned to value education and that it is the way out of poverty, and education is something to cherish because we were not blessed with this opportunity before. Also this trip built the foundation for me of giving back. I know that even though we all go through our daily struggles, we need to look out for others by giving back to the community and fixing the injustices that you have power to change. I learned that it won’t happen overnight, but if you work toward it every day, change will begin to occur. We need to make the world a better place than we found; it that’s the only way. Doing this, you live your life working toward change. This trip opened my eyes to many things but I learned that I need to fight for change every day and be the best person I could be everyday so that I’m living a life of purpose. My life will be a way to honor the memory and the contributions of all the men and women who contributed to the Civil Rights Movement.

A Great Learning Experience

2019-06-04T08:48:00.001-04:00

Being part of the Civil Rights Project was a honor. I never imagined myself traveling to the deep South and creating various memorable experiences. I had lots of stereotypes of the South and when I actually got to experience life in the South, I was ashamed of the mentality I had. Media and my ignorance affected my perception of places, people and things. Traveling to the South was a great learning experience and now that I am more knowledgeable of the history and its present, I plan on applying it in a classroom setting and educating others who have stereotypes of the South.

We met so many people and I appreciate everything they did for us. More specifically, the cookouts we were invited to were fun, the food was delicious, and the talks we had with the adults were inspiring. One person that made an impact on me was Georgette Norman. She spoke about being a bridge. “What type of bridge are you?” she asked. I was confused. She explained that bridges connect with people and there are different ways that we connect with people. We can be a footbridge where we connect with a small group of people or we can be a suspension bridges that stretches out from one end to another and connects with lots of people. Her analogy of building connections was powerful and after taking the time to reflect on what she had said, I got to learn more about the type of person I am.

Overall, I would like to thank Dr. Lansang and Mr. Scanlan for the 110% effort they put in making this project successful. Dr. Lansang would always be there to make sure we were fine and Mr. Scanlan would safely drive us from one destination to another. Both of these adults need as much recognition as the other people we met. They went above and beyond and I am grateful for them.

I have been changed for the better

2019-06-04T08:45:00.001-04:00

Entering this project and heading down south I had no idea as of what to expect. The only things that I could and did take with me were stereotypes and hearsay. With regards to the Civil Rights I’d figured I knew most of the history and was just going to get refreshers in a few places that they happened. It’s safe to say that I was proven wrong in both aspects. Most of why our trip to the Southern states was even possible was due to the willingness and generosity of the all the people, but white folk in particular. What I assumed due to rumors and stereotypes was that white people in the South had these hidden vendettas towards black people. I’m glad to say that I was completely proven wrong. While the South, along with other parts of the US, still has its struggles pertaining equality and justice, the South has come a long way and you can see a collective effort to right many of the wrongs and injustices. The culture and “Southern Hospitality” of the people made a lasting impression on me and the idea of visiting again as been recurring in my head.

Touching on the Civil Rights history aspect of the trip, I could have never anticipated the experiences and emotions that arose. Going to many different places that essentially touched on the same topic and time frame showed me how little I actually knew and how much more history was out there, because every single place we visited I learned a plethora of new information. The constant bombardment of this “difficult” history of the U.S. brought out lots of emotions both for and toward the victims and perpetrators of this difficult history, but more importantly proved as a great opportunity for self reflection. At first, after hearing all the atrocities that went into the building of this country I was really eager to want to be this activist that fought for equality. Then I realized I was being hypocritical; I wanted for people to look at everyone else as equal even though I hadn’t been doing the same myself. I had to start with myself before I could help anyone else. I owe it to the people who died fighting for this cause, or else it would have been in vain.

This trip, and the people I was fortunate enough to go on this journey with and encounter along the way, changed the outlook of my life and the way I live it, and I can honestly say that it changed for the better. For that, I am and will be forever grateful.

Our common struggle with poverty

2019-05-31T10:05:00.001-04:00

This trip was an amazingly meaningful experience for me. I feel as though I went into it completely unaware of how it would affect me emotionally, physically, psychologically and spiritually. Everything came together so perfectly. The events we attended, the activities we did, and the people we met were all so great.

One thing that was really important for me on this trip was the comparison of the North to the South. Wherever I go, there will always be that comparison to home because home is what I have to measure up against. Going to Selma and Clarksdale really helped put into perspective that there is a common struggle of poverty all across the nation. I had a chance to hear and see the struggles of the people firsthand. What strikes me about those people is their faith and their optimism. The way they always keep a smile on their face is what was most inspiring to me. They were open about their homes in a way I definitely could not have been, and I appreciate that greatly.

Upon returning to New Jersey, I have often thought about the concept of the common struggle of poverty in America. It made me upset because if the same problem is happening everywhere, why isn’t everyone trying to team up and fix it. I understand that people have their lives to worry about, but if you take away time from that busy life to make a better life for you and everyone around you, isn’t it worth it? Those are the kind of thoughts that this trip brought out of me. I am thankful for my exposure to such places and the ideas I am acquiring from it. This journey has given me a new outlook on activism as well as asking the difficult questions, and I am better for it.

My turn to give back to my community

2019-05-31T09:57:00.000-04:00

I would like to thank everyone who believed in me especially my family and friends. I would like to thank all the donors who made this trip possible for me and it was a great experience. I hope to continue my life learning about Black history and about the innocent lives that were taken by lynching. Hopefully I can pass on my messages to younger students who plan on taking this class in the future.

What I got from this class was that the real racism is up north . When we went to Clarksdale, Mississippi and drove into the neighborhood everyone greeted us with a warm welcome and I was quite surprised because back home in Newark people that looks like that usually wouldn’t greet us like that. This is truly humbling experience from a kid coming from North thinking he has it worse than others -- I finally got the chance to see how other people live. What amazes me the most was the poor little children in the Clarksdale neighborhood that were too poor to have shoes, when sometimes, I used to complain that I had a certain pair shoes that I didn’t like -- not realizing that I should be grateful that I even have those sneakers.

These past three weeks, I was learned a lot about myself and I’m glad to grow as a person, and that’s why I am so thankful for the opportunity. This trip has motivated me to be more active in my community. I will start giving back to food pantries and homeless shelters in my neighborhood. I never realized that helping each other at a time like this could bring us all together. The killings in Newark are so crucial and it’s our only people killing each other. If all the rappers who grew up in Newark can grow up owning fancy houses and have all these amount of dollars, why can’t they give back to the community?

I want to be known as the person who came from nothing, had a very inspirational experience traveling to the South, then came back to Newark to change his community. If I can ever pay back for this experience, it would start with me giving it back to my city especially with people in need, and the people who need it the most, the youth like me. This opportunity has taught me to take my education seriously. I’m so grateful that people have given their lives so that I can sit in a school like St. Benedict’s. I plan on motivating others to take school seriously. My goal for the rest of my time in high school and the rest of my life is to change the people around me and change my city so hopefully I can inspire people all around the world to become better people and to motivate others. Once again, thank you for the experience, and you will never be forgotten. What a great way to end sophomore year!

Mason Temple and the Promised Land

2019-05-30T09:47:00.002-04:00

One of the last things we did during our trip was to visit Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ), in Memphis, Tennessee. This was the site of Martin Luther King’s last speech.
The place was gargantuan, way bigger than I had imagined.
Juan Peréz and I were put in charge of Memphis, so we were up to present.Juan read a section of Dr. King's final speech, which we followed with a group discussion.
As we were discussing, it hit me that we, as such a diverse group, could converse about these topics in the very place King gave his speech, fifty-one years later.
We talked about the idea of the “promised land” which King spoke about in that last speech; are we, as a society, there yet? It became clear that this “promised land” is a journey rather than a destination, and that it’s the small actions that contribute to the bigger picture: making the world a better place for everyone.
I spoke about this specific idea during our turn in presenting our class activities in front of the whole school. I hope that our presentation inspired our classmates to become part of the healing process that our country continues to engage in as we work toward the "promised land" envisioned by Dr. King when he last spoke in 1968.

Journalism as service to the community

2019-05-30T07:58:00.002-04:00

At the site of the Bryant's Store
in Money, MS

I had the opportunity to meet Aallyah Wright — a fellow journalist who lives in Clarksdale. She came to visit us because she loved how students from across the country visited to the Delta to learn. When Aallyah arrived at the Habitat for Humanity dormitory where we were staying, she proceeded to interview every student in the group to prepare for an article that she would write about our school's visit to the Mississippi Delta, and that felt unusual for me because I’m so used to being the interviewer instead of the one being interviewed. After she spoke with all of us, Aallyah rode along with us to see the sites related to the murder of Emmett Till, and I got the chance to sit and talk with her. I discovered that, similar to me, Aallyah’s passion for journalism stems from writing for the purpose of serving the community. Having grown up in Clarksdale itself, she knew the area very well. As a student in the local schools, Aallyah grew up with a strong interest in reading. She attended Delta State University in Alabama and pursued a major in journalism. Rather than move away to a large city, Aallyah made the decision to stay in the Clarksdale area where she is now the reporter for education and social issues for the news site mississippitoday.org.
I am glad that we were able spend time with her. She was with us for the entire day, and she was able to see what we do when we present to our classmates about our assigned location. Wood-May and I were assigned to talk about the Delta, and the area where Emmett Till was murdered. Aallyah came with us to the bank of the Tallahatchie River where Emmett's body was found, and to the courtroom in Sumner, MS where the trial of his murderers occurred. She was also with us at the site of the country store where Emmett allegedly offended Carolyn Bryant.
Personally, I was glad to be able to spend the entire day with a professional journalist and talk to her about my plans to also pursue a journalism major, just like she did. I am inspired by her example of being a person who could contribute to the improvement of my community through the use of writing and journalism.
We were all sad to say goodbye to Aallyah a few days later when she joined us for Sunday service at the First Methodist Church in Clarksdale. I was glad to have had this memorable time with this remarkable person. Thank you, Aallyah.

The Caring People of Clarksdale

2019-05-27T23:06:00.001-04:00

At the Quapaw Canoe Company

In Clarksdale, Mississippi I feel like I met so many special people with unique stories and different backgrounds. There was such a homey vibe that I got from Clarksdale that made me think about my home back in Jersey. The first person that really got to me was Bill Sutton. He is a staple in the Habitat for Humanity program and he really made us comfortable. He told us about the racial history of the place as well as a county named Phillips County in Arkansas. He told us a story about black people making an effort to advance and being pulled down by the violence of white people. He educated me on some things I didn’t know and I really value this new knowledge. Next we met some

kids from the Griot Arts Program. It’s reassuring to me that most parts of America deal with the poverty issue because that means we can all work together and fix it. Another person who really touched me was Ms. Jenn Ruskey and the teachers who attended a cookout at her house. We had a deep conversation about their failing education system and I could feel their pain from where I was. I met two bankers, Dina and John, through the Meals on Wheels program, it's called Clarksdale Care Station. We served food to many people in the town and they (Dina and John) seemed to have a relationship with every single person we served. We also met a farmer named Bowen Flowers along with his wife & daughter who graciously invited us to their house to us to go swim in their pool and have dinner together. Last but not least, I met a couple named Robert and Margaret Brown who spoke about their hardships in Clarksdale including the murder of Margaret's sister. She told us that she still speaks to her sister's killer and I found it amazing that she finds the heat to forgive. That’s why she is respected across Clarksdale along with her work for many years in a local day care center. Clarksdale may not be the biggest or the flashiest town, but its community is so tightly knit and everyone has as story to tell.

We also met Mr. Bubba O'Keefe, who described the
programs going on to help Clarksdale.

Angels in Clarksdale

2019-05-27T21:12:00.002-04:00

Often, the universe matches us with angels to help inspire us, to shed light on our own darkness, and to be a sign -- asign that with love and with forgiveness, most things can be accomplished. I was blessed to have met Margaret and Robert Brown. Mrs. Brown started to tell us her experience living in Clarksdale Mississippi. From the small home shotgun home that fit her mom and siblings, from living with a rat infestation, from living in the same house her sister was murdered in. How could she be so strong? She went on to tell us that the murderer got EIGHT years for manslaughter, and is now free from jail. But after everything, she still forgives him, she is the only person in her family that forgives him. I wouldn’t be allowed 100 feet of a person that I know killed someone in my family, but Mrs.Brown has accepted him, and loved him through the midst of it all. This whole trip has been a very humbling, emotional, and motivational thing for me. Meeting Margaret and Robert Brown made me realize that true strength comes from being able to forgive but not forget.

Our time with the tractor drivers on a cotton farm

2019-05-24T10:27:00.000-04:00

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This past Thursday (May 17), Bowen Flowers, a farmer with around 17,000 acres of land, was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to host us on his farm. It was an enlightening experience for a few reasons. When thinking of a farm, usually think of something that is more old-fashioned or archaic; however, I was surprised to see how technological savvy it was. The apps and devices used to keep track of the crops and machinery was very cool to say the least. On another note, the experience was enlightening because I was able to get some insight into what it was like being a worker on a farm. Mr. Flowers paired each student on the project with a tractor driver with whom we were able to ride and converse with. My tractor driver didn’t hesitate to begin discussing the hardships he had due to his environment.

Being a Selma, Alabama native, he explained that due to lack of proper education and opportunity he really didn’t have any options in his career path and that he’d been working on fields as soon as he got out of school. He explained that is work was similar to a seasonal job because apart from the times for planting and harvesting, he wasn’t really working on the fields. Some of the other tractor drivers explained that they spend the months between planting and harvesting as time to do maintenance on their machines. I realize that formal segregation ended years ago, but to me, the tractor driver visualizes the long term effects of segregation and shows that while segregation ended 50 years ago, it affects people to this day. His lack of opportunity made me reflect and much more grateful for my own.

Talking about race relations with the youth of Clarksdale

2019-05-23T08:51:00.001-04:00

During our time in Clarksdale , Mississippi we came across an several amazing people from different ranges of age . One group was the young people enrolled in the Griot Arts afterschool program. During the time we spent there, we did a racial reconciliation workshop with them and several thoughts came to mind as I was listening to the two young ladies from my group speaking about their Griot experience, as they are both about to graduate. Segregation is real in Clarksdale, and there's a form of it in the education system, too . They keep the freshman in a different building at their high school because they feel as though they are too wild . The school administrators should keep in mind that the students are children and that it’s still time for them to mature, and keeping them around the older students could teach them how to mature well. It’s pretty sad because it makes me think of the current prison system, and I feel as though it is prepping those young students for failure in the future . Keep in mind that this is a predominantly black high school and they choose to 'segregate' the students in this way. Are the racial systematic tactics being drawn over into this? Hopefully change will come for the education system .

My community service at the animal shelter in Clarksdale

2019-05-23T08:36:00.000-04:00

I can’t really describe the feeling I got while volunteering at the animal shelter, called Clarksdale Cares. Seeing these animals without families made me want to help even more. I found a connection between us humans and the animals: they just want a place to belong and to be loved. Volunteering gave me the opportunity to be a part of something greater than myself. I got a chance to assist with the things that needed to get done in the shelter and it was a very great experience for me. In the future I plan on volunteering again whenever the opportunity presents itself. It’s a great chance to give back and builds community, so I would like to continue to be part of community service projects.

Serving the Clarksdale community at the Care Station

2019-05-22T01:04:00.000-04:00

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One of the major themes of this project is to learn how to become agents of change. We had two amazing opportunities to help make a difference in some people’s lives in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Half of us went to the help out at an Animal shelter and the other half, which included me, volunteered at Clarksdale Care Station, a local group that delivers meals to the homebound residents of the town.

I spent most of the day sorting out the food that had been donated during the past Sunday's "Mother's Day" food drive, and the donated food was collected by the local post office. There were hundreds of cans of different types of food, and we spent the day with Mr. Charlie Estes, who directs the Care Station, organizing different can goods in the storage room. We made sure that all the corns were with other corns, green beans with green beans, and so on. By organizing the stock of donated food, it would be easier for the cooks and meal planners to prepare meals. Overall, it was an amazing experience. Knowing that I was being of service to other people was very rewarding. The way my heart was beating during my time at care station felt special.

The Care Station also feeds anyone who ask for food. Some people eat there once a week and some people eat there everyday. They also deliver food to people who can not leave their house due to medical issues. All the people who were working at the Care Station gave me hope. Everyone deserves to have access to food and water on daily basis. It makes me happy to know that there are people and organizations out there that helping those who are unable to provide for themselves. It strengthens my belief in humanity.

The Contrasts of Clarksdale

2019-05-22T00:45:00.000-04:00

Along the bank of the mighty Mississippi River

One person waves, two people waved, three waved, whoa I lost count! It is unbelievable how many people waved at us as we drove through Clarksdale, Mississippi. We were welcomed by everyone we met and I was grateful to have people makes us feel at home. During our four day stay at the “Habitat for Humanities” dormitory there, we had a chance to explore the neighborhood. There were many wooden houses falling apart, some were abandoned, and most of them had junk on the yard. What struck me the most was that a couple blocks away, still in the city of Clarksdale, the neighborhood looked completely different. The majority of the houses were made of brick, had large clean yards, and almost all were in perfect condition. Seeing a significant difference in the appearance of the two neighborhoods reminded me of Newark because there are some areas where one neighborhood looks better than another. It is crazy how some of the problems we have in the North are also present in the South.

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A Gray Bee Home in Montgomery, Alabama: Reconnecting with a Gray Bee

2019-05-22T00:19:00.001-04:00

If you’re a Gray Bee, then you surely know that Benedict’s is a home away from home; in some cases, it serves as your primary home. Through my experience during our time in Montgomery, Alabama, I’ve also come to understand that wherever there’s a Gray Bee, there is a home! Going into Montgomery was exciting; we were set to meet Greg Thornton ‘67, brother of Paul Thornton ‘63, who works in the advancement office at St. Benedict’s. We also met Pat Thornton, Greg's wife who currently works in the advancement department of the Southern Poverty Law Center. They invited us into their home as if we were family, and we had great food and ice cream.
I had the opportunity to interview a woman named Georgette Norman, who directed the Rosa Parks Museum in Montgomery. She was a fascinating woman; she seemed to exude wisdom and intelligence. I hung on to her every word.

After the interviews, Dr. Lansang noted that the Thornton's had a piano, so we all gathered around the piano to sing the songs of Rev. Winstead as if we were in Convo. Mr. Thornton however, had a special request: our Alma Mater! We broke into a chorus, singing “Our praises now we fondly sing, ever dear St. Benedict’s!” And fondly we did sing. Leaving the Thornton’s felt like leaving Benedict’s all over again. As I look towards graduation on June 2nd, after being a student for 6 years, I am reminded that even after I leave, I will forever be a Gray Bee. I am so grateful to the Thornton’s for their hospitality!

Reviewing and reflecting along the way

2019-05-21T01:32:00.003-04:00

In case you didn't already know, the students and the faculty moderators are writing (by hand) in a journal book every day of this trip on the Civil Rights Trail. We get together in a discussion group every few days to reflect on what we have seen, who we have talked with, and the feelings we are experiencing along this 20-day journey.

Our blog entries are another way that we get to reflect on our experiences on the road. In comparison to our handwritten journals, our blog posts are not daily, but we use the journals to help us to remember the various days about which we craft our blog posts.

Now as we reach the tail end of our journey, I've listed the dates and places that we have visited, and provided links to the posts that are pertinent to each stage, each city, each new experience we have blogged about over these past few weeks. We hope this listing of places and this index of blog posts will allow our readers to review what we have written, to view our itinerary, and to reflect on your own reaction to our writing.

CLICK THIS LINK to view the listing of the Dates and Places of Our Journey

The Edmundite Mission in Selma, Alabama

2019-05-20T09:48:00.001-04:00

In Selma, we went to Edmundite church, Queen of Peace. There we met Brother Peter from London who told about the evolution of the Edmundites in Selma. Afterward, we went to the Interpretive Center of the March on Selma. We watched a powerful video with quotes from real people who really walked across the Edmund Pettus bridge and were assaulted by the police that day. Personally, the video showed me that everyday people can do extraordinary things. We then went to a presentation about Selma’s economic struggles, and honestly, it can be seen as soon as you set foot into the city. The amount of abandoned homes, businesses, and buildings was discouraging and the place can fairly be described as a ghost town. Mr. Joe O’Quinn of the Society of St. Edmund showed how Selma is losing parts of its population every year. People are leaving because of the intense poverty in the town comparable to that of a third world country. He also mentioned the fact that even though legal segregation was abolished, segregation is still a prominent issue in Selma. When presented with the with the idea of doing a food pantry with an all black church from Selma, an all white church from Selma stated, “Those are not our people” and refused to work with the black church. The segregation is also economic. Property taxes stay low because the upper class of Selma send all their children to private schools, and in turn they care less about the public education in Selma. Because of this, they vote for smaller property taxes which deprives the school system of the money to get proper materials for education. By graduation, only 5% of the students can get a 65 or higher on an Algebra I test. When students go to college, many come back to Selma within a week simply because they can complete. It seems to me that no one with real power to improve the situation cares enough to do so. It’s sad to see a historic place such as Selma be in such bad shape.
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Selma Still Segregated

2019-05-20T09:48:00.000-04:00

After crossing the iconic “Selma Bridge”(Edmund Pettus bridge) in our large black rented van, I had entered the glorious city of Selma which had “overcome” racial injustice and institutional segregation. I was in the place where Martin Luther King, Jimmie Lee Jackson, Jimmy Bonard Flower, and Barack Obama had once stood. Although “glorious” and “free” from institutional segregation---Jim Crow—the city was undeniably drowsy. The downtown had colonial French-looking buildings that were empty while the nearby residential community had homes that had broken windows and black gunk on the walls. I initially thought some of the homes a little rusty, but as I saw more, it became more clear that the community that I saw outside were impoverished. However, within a minute of driving, the outside view turned from the community that was impoverished into another neighborhood that was polished, with mowed grass, and nice homes. The wealth inequality gap in America was unmistakably visible. On one side of Selma, there were decrepit buildings, mostly black people, and poverty, but on another side of Selma, country clubs, nice houses, and white people. I was shocked by how segregated Selma is even after nearly 50 years after the Civil Right movement.

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Confronted by poverty in Selma and at home

2019-05-19T00:16:00.001-04:00

When we drove into the historic town of Selma, where the legendary march to Montgomery took place, where “Bloody Sunday” occurred, I was slapped in the face by how poverty stricken the place was. We took a quick tour of Selma with Mr. Joe O’Quinn, and we drove through the “other side of the tracks”, and the homes were falling apart, grass was uncut, and everyone seemed to be living on top of each other. I learned that the unemployment rate is ridiculously high, and that public schools are failing to provide the bright African American kids of Selma with equal educational opportunities as the rich white kids who attend the town's private school. I'm now understanding that the ‘hood is the same everywhere in America. When we were driving through Selma, parts of Birmingham, Montgomery, things were starting to look like certain parts of Newark, East Orange, and Irvington. Housing is inadequate, streets are barely paved and dirty in the poor parts of Selma. But, on the more wealthy, white part of town, houses were big and beautiful, trampolines stood high, grass was cut crisply, and cars were luxurious. These people were living the American dream. I was disappointed to see a division of people because of wealth, and unequal opportunity. I firmly believe that segregation never ended, it just manifested its way into education, economics, and housing. Two things that will emancipate minorities from the chains of institutionalized “slavery” are: better educational opportunities; and a thriving economy.

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Their spirits live on through us

2019-05-19T00:04:00.001-04:00

As I walked through the Civil Rights Memorial, I wanted to crawl onto my mother’s lap and rest my head on her shoulder. I wanted to feel her hands rubbed on back just like she used to do when I was younger. I wanted her to take away the pain that I felt from reading the names of innocent people who had been brutally murdered for unjust reasons. People like Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise MacNair, and Emmett Till whose only crime was being born black. At one point, I got so frustrated from reading the the stories of these people that I stopped reading. I was mentally exhausted. Learning about all of the people who sacrificed their lives for equality forced me to ask myself what have I done to make their sacrifice worthwhile. When I couldn’t find the answer to that question, I was so ashamed that I wanted to go back New Jersey and returned to my daily routine.

Thankfully, I was able to lean on the shoulders of my SBP brothers. At least once a day, we come together as a group to debrief and express our feelings. From our small convocations, I learned that I owe it to everyone who participated in the People’s Movement to read their stories no matter how hard and tragic their stories may be. With the support of my brothers, I am able to continue on with this trip. Perhaps the most important thing that I’ve learned so far is that people like Emmett Till and Jonathan Daniels and everyone who was murdered in the fight for equality are not dead. Emmett Till lives in the hearts of the people like Morris Dees,the founder of Southern Poverty Law Center, Bryan Stevenson, the founder of Equal Justice Initiative, me, you and everyone who is striving to make this a world a better place.
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Opportunities to meet Montgomery leaders

2019-05-18T01:10:00.000-04:00

Today, we, along with Georgette Norman, Morris Dees, and a few students who play basketball at LAMP, a school in Montgomery. Once we all settled, the Civil Rights Project split into two groups. One group interviewed and listened to Georgette Norman (former director of the Rosa Parks Museum), while I along with another group interviewed Morris Dees. Morris Dees is the cofounder of the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama. Mr. Dees, even when it was frowned upon and a risk to his safety, went above and beyond in the fight for civil rights. He is one of the most prominent figures of the civil rights movement and credits his progressive thinking to his “good parents” and the fact that he grew up around and even himself picked cotton with people of color. My impression of Mr. Dees is that he is a phenomenal person: genuine in his actions without looking for thanks, admiration, or anything of that nature. One thing I realized it that Mr. Dees is a Civil Rights Activist in all senses of the word, raising awareness to sexism, ageism, and groups of people treated unequally in general. Back in the 60’s and even now, Mr. Dees is ahead of his time.

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Making friends in Montgomery, Alabama

2019-05-18T01:01:00.000-04:00

Monday, May 13 was a very interesting day in Montgomery, but one thing that I enjoyed the most was my conversation with a teenager from the local magnet school in. Chris, an 18 year old young man from a nearby town by Montgomery, filled me in on some information about how he lives here as an African American. We were both eager to learn from each other and how our states operate. I asked if he has experienced racism and he said that he hasn’t blatantly. He says that he sees people look at him in a cruel way and whisper things about him to someone else but it doesn’t really bother him because he just learns to deal with it . Nobody has ever came up to him and called him a N word to his face. I noticed he was a bit socially awkward but I was curiously to why. It turns out that Chris is very lonely and lives in the outskirts of the nearby town and it’s a coincidence because he was so excited to speak to me. He tells me he doesn’t have much friends and I told him I could be his friend. What a great way to end my time in Alabama and it makes me feel better about myself knowing I could be someone’s friend when they don’t have many as it is.