Jenny Harris - Day 23

We are on the bus now, heading home somewhere in between Memphis and St. Louis. And, we had a wonderful journey together. Here are a few of the statistics.

Days on trip - 23
Miles traveled – 3900
Cities visited – 19
Days we ate sandwiches for lunch – 14
Number of sandwiches consumed – 480
Pounds of Licorice consumed - 26
Bottles of Afterbite used– 4
Times we will return to the Cupboard Restaurant in Memphis – 0
Times Robin got on sugar high – 4
Inspirational texts sent by Derrick – 12
Times Matthew mentioned Alpha – we lost count
Times Jenny got us lost – 30, at least
Time we spent together – Priceless

All jokes aside, what we all experienced in these 23 days—the historical sites, the museums, the speakers—was moving and powerful and all the more so because we did it together. And somewhere in the middle of it all, we became a family.

Almost everyone is asleep and the bus is quieter now than I’ve heard it in a long time. The students were likely up into the wee hours of the morning, savoring the final moments until we get home and return to our normal lives. But, none of us have escaped this experience unchanged and the memories and epiphanies will keep us all connected long after the Cultural Leadership journey ends.

Thomas Bullock - Day 22

The day began with bus loading at 8:30 with Rhodes College as the destination. After listening to a brief introduction of the college done by Russ Williams, we heard from a group of four students. They talked about Crossroads to Freedom, an online digital archive of primary materials from the Civil Rights era. These primary materials include documents, pictures, maps and interviews from a variety of sources with many different perspectives. We also learned how the students work to contribute more to Crossroads; three teams of students work to research important areas in Memphis during the Civil Rights movement, gather stories and interviews for the site, and to increase awareness of Crossroads through social networking and other means. After these students spoke with us, Dr. Jim Lanier, a professor of the college, talked about his own life story. He was born in the Deep South during the 1940s, at a time when segregation was alive, well, and believed in by Dr. Lanier and all of the people he knew. In 1967, he came to Memphis after attending graduate school to teach. He came in the heat of the sanitation workers’ strike and was consequently forced to deal with issues of race first-hand. In time, his perspective of blacks changed, and while he did not march in Selma due to his wife’s pregnancy he joined a march immediately following MLK’s murder. It was inspiring to see how Lanier changed from a racist to a man in the movement even though his own parents did not support him. After we left Rhodes, we went to the National Civil Rights Museum. This Museum housed a vault of knowledge. Even after learning about Civil Rights and activists during the movement for 21 days on this trip, I still was able to fill four pages of my journal with information and stories about important figures that I had never even heard of before. I spent an hour gathering information, and then retired back to the bus for a healthy lunch consisting of pb and j. Afterwards, I ventured back into the museum for another two hours to learn. However, even with all the information the museum held, I was most touched when I looked into room 306 and onto the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. Being so close to the site of Dr. King’s assassination was incredibly moving. Words cannot describe how I felt, so I will not even attempt to search for adequate ones. After we finally left the museum, we enjoyed a dinner of barbeque at Corky’s and ice cream at Ben and Jerry’s. My stomach has yet to recover. We then traveled back to the hotel and practiced speeches, which brings me to the present time, and I am blogging about the day while I wait impatiently for the talent show the Class fivers are about to put on.

Ashaki Hall - Day 21

Today, we visited the Little Rock Nine Memorial museum. Though it was a smaller exhibit, information stretched through all the spaces in the museum. This museum was dedicated to giving all of the details of 5 W’s: Who, What, When, Where, and Why. A person who has never heard of the Little Rock nine in their entire life could easily be intrigued and educated by this life-changing story. The museum also talked about famous Supreme Court Cases that are silenced such as: Plessy vs. Ferguson and Belton vs. Gebhart. I find it incredulous that these teenagers had the courage to fight for their education everyday, while facing inconceivable circumstances. It makes me thankful and humble about my educational experience. We also had the privilege of meeting Dr. Sybil Jordan Hampton, a graduate of Little Rock High School in the 1950’s. She struggled with some of the same things the Little Rock nine faced: Racism, ignorance, discrimination, disrespect; the list goes on and on. During her time there, she told us that no one talked to her, but she found teachers as allies to bring forth the best in her. Though they may not have liked her, they respected her. “You may not like them, but you must respect them.” This to me was one of the underlying themes of Cultural Leadership, though we may not get along with all of the people in the world, we must respect to work for the common good. It reminds me of the word “UBUNTU” which means “ I belong because you belong.” Then, we visited the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and met James L. Rutherford, dean and professor at the Clinton School of Public Service. He talked about how this was the only school in nation that specifically educated graduate students about public service and how to create change in a global community. This was really inspiring because I felt that I wasn’t the only person carrying the torch of justice, the passion of making the world a better place was fiercely burning in other people’s hands as they ran around the world. This day was really great! I learned a lot from amazing people and I can’t wait to tell others about my experiences.

ReNeaSha Ford - Day 20

We started out our day with a wake up call at 8 o’clock this morning. We sleepily walked out of our lovely cabins, ate breakfast on the bus and were on our way to Ruleville, MS where we met with Charles McLaurin who is a veteran of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement at the Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial Site. Then we headed off to an amazing soul food lunch at a local restaurant. Around 1 o’clock in the afternoon we drove to Drew, MS. We were suppose to go and see one of the Rosenwald schools and meet with Rev. Gresham, but we were told that the Rev. had gotten to hot waiting on us to arrive so he decided to head on back home. Never heard that one before. Oh well. So after driving around for about an half of an hour looking for a school that we didn’t even get to see we set out for Mound Bayou, MS. Mound Bayou is a city in the Mississippi Delta that was started by African-Americans, it is also the largest African-American city in the south with about 2100 people. We got a chance to talk with the Mayor of the city Mayor Johnson, who gave us a history and facts about the city that we would have never known. The final stop on our agenda was Cleveland, MS which is about 15 or 20 minutes away from Mound Bayou. This was probably the best part of the day for many of us because we got a chance to meet with the Cleveland Youth Council, who are teens and young adults that are doing social justice work and working to make their community a better place. We all thought that it was good to meet with people our age that are out there trying to bring about some type of change in their communities and circles of influence as us. Feeling inspired by the teens and young adults, we said our good-byes and headed for Little Rock, AR around 5 o’clock that evening and after a 3 hr. drive we finally arrived. We decided to have dinner at IHOP and after filling up our bellies with some yummy food and having a chance to relax with each other we headed to our hotel. Our day was kind of jammed packed so our curfew was set for 11 o’clock on the dot. We all said our good-nights and see you laters and went to our rooms, climbed into the beds and waited to see what the next day had to bring.

Jake Warshaw - Day 19

Blog
6/28/09
Jake Warshaw

Today we went to Greenwood Mississippi. It was very interesting to see how segregated it was, Saint Louis is segregated, but it gradually changes per area, this was an immediate change that was visible. Our tour guide said that Greenwood is like the Great Wall of China, or the Berlin wall. This is very true. The neighborhood on the “poor” side of town was in horrible condition. I did not see any white people. As soon as you cross a bridge, you are in a very nice neighborhood; it was even nicer than my neighborhood. It is sad to look at that segregation, because it truly shows that our system isolates African Americans. I saw a lot of social and economic injustice. However we made the point of eating dinner at a restaurant owed and run by a young African American couple. We wanted to support those individuals working to break out of the system. At the restaurant, we ate and discussed issues with other teens working for the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation. One of the issues that my group discussed at the restaurant was: would a colorblind society be good? My response was that it is a nice fantasy, but it is not a reality, the only way that it would work is if EVERY parent taught their kids to see people, not race. That is very unlikely. Another issue that goes hand-in-hand is the issue of tolerance and to tolerate. A colorblind society would be to tolerate, but not tolerance.

It was a very interesting day for me. It was also a very upsetting day. I really want to see change within the Greenwood community. I feel like the government keeps the rich people rich, and the poor people poor. This is the way the system works. It is sad to see that most people are not trying to fight the system, but rather play its stupid game. If you don’t challenge the system, the system will control you.

Jake Warshaw - Day 19

Today we went to Greenwood Mississippi. It was very interesting to see how segregated it was, Saint Louis is segregated, but it gradually changes per area, this was an immediate change that was visible. Our tour guide said that Greenwood is like the Great Wall of China, or the Berlin wall. This is very true. The neighborhood on the “poor” side of town was in horrible condition. I did not see any white people. As soon as you cross a bridge, you are in a very nice neighborhood; it was even nicer than my neighborhood. It is sad to look at that segregation, because it truly shows that our system isolates African Americans. I saw a lot of social and economic injustice. However we made the point of eating dinner at a restaurant owed and run by a young African American couple. We wanted to support those individuals working to break out of the system. At the restaurant, we ate and discussed issues with other teens working for the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation. One of the issues that my group discussed at the restaurant was: would a colorblind society be good? My response was that it is a nice fantasy, but it is not a reality, the only way that it would work is if EVERY parent taught their kids to see people, not race. That is very unlikely. Another issue that goes hand-in-hand is the issue of tolerance and to tolerate. A colorblind society would be to tolerate, but not tolerance.

It was a very interesting day for me. It was also a very upsetting day. I really want to see change within the Greenwood community. I feel like the government keeps the rich people rich, and the poor people poor. This is the way the system works. It is sad to see that most people are not trying to fight the system, but rather play its stupid game. If you don’t challenge the system, the system will control you.

Keilah Johnson - Day 18

Today we were lucky enough to not have meet until TEN O’ CLOCK. This may not seem like a big deal to some, but considering our usual seven/eight o’ clock report time, it was like a dream come true. Darren, an OUDC Class 3 alum, came to join us for breakfast, which was not only pushed back due to a rain delay, but moved to an entirely different location. Once again, innocent civilians were overwhelmed by the sight of 30 hungry teenagers, four frazzled chaperones, and one amazingly calm photographer. Although there were a few incidents with remembering food orders, we all managed to get something to eat.

Unlike most of our free time, today we actually had time to walk around the French Quarters of New Orleans and shop. This would have been even more enjoyable if it weren’t for the blistering heat. Eric, Julia, Thomas, and I had enough time to visit a few stores, but the irritating humidity drove us to search the street for a cool snack. Word of advice, don’t ever ask a café shop employee where you can find ice cream. These cunning employees will try to convince you that a chilled cappuccino is similar to ice cream. Ha!

Next, we visited New Orleans’ 9th ward, the place that experienced the most damage from Hurricane Katrina. It is amazing to me that after almost five years, the area still has not fully recovered. We saw the levees, which don’t look like they could have even been useful even if they hadn’t broke. Some projects have been started to rebuild affordable houses for Katrina victims, but only a few seemed to have been built. The new houses look really futuristic, with solar panels and are elevated from the ground. They were being built by the Make it Right project founded by Brad Pitt. Then, after playing in a park in the Lower Ninth Ward that was donated by Kellogg, we visited a man who is an active participant in the Mardi Gras parade. He had a little museum built in his backyard, which was packed with costumes, pictures, and his fierce six-year-old niece (and assistant director of the museum). (You can take another bumper sticker!).

Then, we visited the Jewish Community Center to spend a couple of hours of downtime. At first, almost everyone was in the gym; sitting, watching or playing in the Class 5 vs. Trip Leaders basketball game (Class 5 won). About fifteen minutes into the game, the group divided and some of us went swimming in the pool (I was in that group). After a pasta/pizza/wing feast we loaded up the bus and rolled into the sunset. Thanks Aaron for helping me end this blog with some beautiful imagery.