The fountain memorial outside the Southern Poverty Law Center in downtown Montgomery was really interesting. We were all kind of just drawn to it and to play with the water and once we got to it were able to read the important dates including all of the demonstrations we have learned about on the trip so far. Reading all the plaques on the wall inside the center commemorating 40 various people who died during the struggle emphasized how many people were innocently killed who were not even protesting. There were stories of high school kids getting shot on their way home from school or to basketball practice and even a young man shot and killed who was only dancing at a club The wall includes white and black people that were murdered and in the next room of the center there is an interactive wall of peace for people to sign and pledge tolerance. It was exciting to see all of our names being added and scrolled down the wall along with others such as Morris Dees. We were also shown the locations of several hate groups that exist today in each state of the US such as neo Nazis and neo confederates. After hearing about court cases and law suites to finally dissemble the United Klansmen of America and then seeing how many other groups that continue to exist reiterates the goal of this course-to learn the history and the progression but also be mindful of what still needs to be done in this country to ensure equality.

Stopping in Selma to walk the Edmund Pettis Bridge was fun because we got to walk in a group exactly where the march had taken place just in the opposite direction. The bridge is rounded so much that when you are walking you cannot see the other end until you get to the middle which is when the marchers caught sight of the massive amounts of police officers blocking the exit. As a couple people in our group were scared to walk the bridge from fear of heights we can only imagine what it must have been like to be walking in the heat and so motivated to march for voting rights only to be suddenly stopped without a safe getaway. After our short bridge stop in Selma we got some food and headed to Bay St. Louis on a long bus ride that was entirely dedicated to class time, Spike Lee’s movie about the 16^th Street Baptist church bombing, and a CNN coverage on the affects of Katrina in our destination town but no nap time!

Today we went to the Southern Poverty Law Center. It was my favorite thing we’ve done so far on the trip. I have loved learning about all the Civil Rights history, and this event combined learning more stuff with more of a way to combat current problems…or at least a knowledge of the current issues and an awareness that someone is doing something about it. We talked at length about the hate groups that are currently in existence. The SPL Center’s map of Active U.S. Hate Groups allows you to click on your state and see the hate groups in each city. It also has descriptions of all of them. It’s really informative and interesting.

I was shocked to see that Florida has the third highest number of groups. This is incredibly alarming to me. I thought for sure that there would be more groups from the deep south. It just really gave me a stomach ache to think that a place that I love so much can hold within it so much hatred.

After the presentation, a few of us stood around and talked to the man who gave the presentation. It was really cool to hear him talk about all the things that the law center does. I’ve really been feeling lately that I want to work in the non-profit sector. I just love the idea of making helping others my life’s work. And this place seems like an ideal place to do so. It combines my love for politics and my passion for social justice in a way that directly impacts the lives of those who desperately need the assistance. He said that they hire interns every summer, which would be such an amazing opportunity.

After this, we drove to Selma to walk across the Edmund Pettis Bridge. It was powerful beyond what words could describe to stand at the top and know that the marchers stood there with no clue what waited them on the other side. Because of the way that the bridge arches, you cannot see the bottom from the top. I don’t think that, even in their worst nightmares they imagined that they would be met with billy clubs and tear gas. I certainly would not have thought that. As I talked about yesterday, the atrocities of the event are shocking to me. I will never be able to comprehend what went through the minds of the white police officers, government officials, and intolerant citizens during all these years.

Coming into today, I had always wondered how laws for civil rights were passed into law, because other than hearing about the historic marches, there is little said about the legislative aspect of fighting segregation. Once we visited the Southern Poverty Law center in downtown Montgomery, Alabama, I got a lot of my questions answered. Outside the S.P.L.C is an extraordinarily great memorial with the powerful words of Rev. Dr. Martin L. King Jr. along with important dates of the civil rights movement. Aside from what was on the exterior on the building, there were equally important memorials inside.

The film that we viewed inside the S.L.P.C was full of images that I had never seen before in previous documentaries. It explained the various court decisions and some of the litigations that are present in our society today. I was so surprised to see that so many hate groups are still active today. With 4 hate groups within a 30 mile radius of my hometown, it raised my attention to how things really are where and how people really think in my surroundings.

The interesting concept that caught my attention is the connection with the 1996 Olympic bombing and the bomber Eric Rudolph. I had always wondered how he managed to escape and remain hidden for so long. He was later found in a neighboring city (30 miles west) of Asheville, NC, my hometown. His connection to a hate group located in that area gave him the resources to hide for so long. That conspiracy caught me off guard. In my hometown there had been bombings of abortion clinics also linked to Eric Rudolph. One of the beliefs of the alleged hate group found in the area is the opposition to abortion. With so many hate groups functioning silently but effectively is a scary thought for me to think about. It also reinforces the idea that things revolving around hate have not disappeared over the past 40 years of equal rights legislation which is very disappointing.

Today was a very long day filled with a few different activities. We woke up bright and early this morning to check out of our hotel and walk to the Southern Poverty Law Center where we had an appointment at 9:00am. We actually went into the Civil Rights Memorial Center, which is across the street from the Southern Poverty Law Center, but associated with it. This gave yet another perspective on the civil rights movement, and gave more faces and names to those who were killed for fighting for their beliefs and freedom. While we have heard many stories from this movement, they never cease to amaze me and sadden me. My favorite part of the exhibit was the Wall of Tolerance. This wall records the names of people who have made a commitment to work in their daily lives for justice, equality and human rights. The wall is digital, and we were all able to put our names on the wall. It was really neat to see my name and the names of my classmates up there along with the names of many others who have dedicated their lives to this cause.

After the museum we got back on the bus and left Montgomery. We stopped in Selma, Alabama to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge and to walk through the George Washington Carver Projects. The bridge that we walked across was the bridge that the marchers crossed during their walk to Montgomery, but it was also the bridge that they were violently attacked on by police on March 7^th, 1965, also known as Bloody Sunday. It was incredible to trace these people’s steps as they began their journey, and it was also interesting to be on the bridge and realize that the marchers could have had no idea what brutality was awaiting them on the other side because you cannot see down to where the police were waiting for them. The George Washington Carter Housing Project was very interesting for a number of reasons. First of all, I had never been very close to any projects, and it was eye-opening to see the way the housing these people lived in. There was one little store within the projects that was completely different from anything I was expecting. Aside from the tiny size of the store, I was shocked to walk in and see that the person working the store and all the merchandise were behind bars. I had never seen a store with that type of security, and was very surprised at it. The other thing we saw that was probably the reason for the visit to the housing project was the Baptist church where the marchers congregated before beginning their journey to Montgomery. This church is located in the middle of the project, and has a famous monument to Martin Luther King Jr. with the words “I had a dream.” It was very strange to see this famous saying put in the past tense.

Following our visit to Selma, we drove to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The drive was kind of long, but not as bad as I thought it would be. We are staying in a casino/hotel for the next three nights, so I am anticipating a fun time. Of course, the main reason for our visit to this area is to work with the Hancock county library and to help these people record their Hurricane Katrina stories. We will meet with them tomorrow, which should be very different from all the other things we have done so far on this trip. Ok, off to the casino for me!!

Tuesday May 29, 2007

Today was an enjoyable day with early start. We started the day by walking down to the in Downtown Montgomery. The day started by going to the Civil Rights Movement Memorial. The Memorial has a great monument out front with a beautiful quote by Martin Luther King, Jr. The memorial is the only one in the nation devoted to the actual movement itself, and not one specific person involved in the movement. Our guide, Andrew was very helpful and lead a great discussion of some of the pressing issues on the importance of the memorial and how it’s important to learn about all of the people that died for the cause. The origin behind why the memorial was built is very interesting. It was sparked because of an innocent nineteen year old Black male, Micheal Donald was murdered by Klansmen in Alabama. Andrew brought up a very interesting discussion on current hate groups that exist in the Southern states across the US. We examined the prevalence of groups like, The League of the South in states like North Carolina.

After we left the memorial center, we headed for Selma, Alabama. It was a great experience to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the same Bridge where the marches were held from Selma to Montgomery. I felt really powerful being able to have that experience of crossing such an infamous bridge. It if weren’t for the tragic events that Blacks and Whites endured that year then there wouldn’t have been a Voting Rights Act of 1965. The experience was memorable and I will never forget it. Also, in Selma we were in the historic area which includes the George Washington Carver Housing Project. Walking through the housing project, I wanted to be able to change the conditions myself. I do not understand why government housing known as Projects are always in such bad conditions. I can definitely see organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center stepping in to revamp housing projects of the deep South. It was also just such a pleasure to walk down the sidewalk in Selma, Alabama, a very historical city that I have wanted to visit for years.

The ride to Bay St. Louis today was filled with student reports and films. I really enjoyed learning the statistics of Birmingham, Montgomery, and Selma especially about the racial compositions of the cities. Spike Lee does great work and I enjoyed watching his documentary, Four Little Girls. The documentary included information that I had learned from previous student reports. But, I thought that the documentary did a great job of presenting the feelings and concerns of family members of the four young women killed because of hate and racism. We also watched a story presented by CNN on the damaging effects Katrina had on Bay St. Louis, MS. I was astounded to hear the facts about insurance companies and there distinctive differences between flood and wind damage. I also felt very uneducated in that I didn’t know the impact Katrina made on areas like Bay St. Louis in Mississippi.

We left the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC; located in Montgomery, Alabama) after a discussion of “hate” in the south. Lilly Massa (Wake alum, now a staff member at Vanderbily U) met us there and after our discussion with Andrew who explained how the SPLC works, the types of cases they engage in and the most recent cases they are involved with, we hit the L O N G road to Mississippi.

Must also say here WELCOME to Prof. Susan Faust (Wake Forest, Dept. of Communication) who arrived late the previous evening.

Thanks to Dr. Lynn Sutton (Director of the Z. Smith Reynolds Library at Wake Forest) we are committed to 2 1/2 days of “service” at the Hancock County library. Our students completed the required Institutional Review Board certification (a 4 hour ordeal) so that they can take oral histories from people directely impacted from Hurricane Katrina.

Along with the oral histories we will also engage a team of students with building a “paper trail” of the hurricane and the devestation via scrapbooks. The class has been split up into 2 (maybe 3) groups with specific tasks.

To prepare for the folks in Hnacock County we watched on the bus a CNN video of what Katrina did to this part of Mississippi (near the Gulf).

Most consistently the people talked about not getting the “respect & attention” as did New Orleans. They also did not get the financial response from US insurance companies, even those few with the proper insurance.

I am looking forward to our time here as it will give the class an “up front” experience working with good people who were hit with a natural disaster and who have had to navigate the human response (and not just FEEMA).

Check out the FLICKR (photographs) from the last few days. Some awesome graphics from our crossing the bridge coming into Selma.

Also, even though the Internet connections have been less than desirable, our students have done their homework, wrote their blogs, placed them on flass drives and thanks to Susan S. Smith (Director of Technology at the Z. Smith Reynolds Library, Wake Forest U) we have been able to get the info on-line.

Part 2 of this blog with be posted later tonight.

Have a great day,

Earl Smith

This morning we got off to an early start. We began with a visit to the Civil Rights Memorial that was coordinated by the Southern Law Poverty Center. We learned the story of Michael Donald; whose story inspired the development of the center.

The following is a direct quote from a plaque that appear at the internal entrance to tell the story of Michael Donald.

“A landmark lawsuit prompted by the Southern Poverty Law Center to build a memorial to commemorate those who died during the Civil Rights Movement.

Michael Donald was walking to a store in Mobile, Alabama, in 1981 when two Klansmen abducted him. They beat him, cut his throat and hung his body from a tree. He was only 19.

In a groundbreaking lawsuit, the Center proved that the United Klans of America was responsible for Donald’s death. This same organization committed some of the worst hate violence during the civil rights era, including the church bombing that killed four girls in Birmingham in 1963 and the slaying of Viola Liuzzo during the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march in 1965.

In 1987, an all-white jury awarded Donald’s mother $7 million. The historic verdict put the United Klans out of business and forced the group to turn over the headquarters to Beulah Mae Donald, the victim’s mother.”

Morris Dees, the chief trial counsel of the Center was inspired to build the Memorial after he realized how many young people enjoy the benefits of the Civil Rights Movement; but lack the historical background knowledge.

I am unable to articulate how much this trip to the Memorial turned out to mean to me. I’m forever changed! I did not realize the extent of the issues that the Southern Law Poverty Center addresses each day. It is truly amazing. In fact, so amazing ………… that I may consider doing an internship at the center.

After our visit to the center, we drove to the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma. This is the bridge that countless marchers crossed as they marched from Salem to Montgomery to demand the right to vote.

Before, I precede any further I should say that one of my worst fears is bridges… and this experience was difficult. Especially, considering the fact that, we ended up walking across the bridge. {BTW: Pictures of this experience may be out there}

Our final destination today is Hancock County. And, we will begin our sociological experiences here bright and early Wednesday morning.

To be continued …..

Over the past few days, we have had limited access to internet in the hotel we stayed in so I am now covering our last day in Birmingham, as well as our time in Montgomery and Selma.

Before we left Birmingham on Sunday, we had the privilege of attending a church service at the 16^th Street Baptist Church where the four children were killed while attending a youth event by members of white supremacist organizations. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at this service, probably more so than others on the trip, partially because I had never been to a service like this, and also because it kind of spoke to me in a way that I’ve never really felt from a church service. The loudness, vivaciousness, and contemporary nature of the opening songs and others throughout was done in such a way that I literally felt the music, something I can’t say is true of any song at my Methodist church, or any other more traditional service I have been to. Though these are two very different styles, and neither one is more right or wrong, I can honestly say there was much more spirit, depth, and a much more powerful message in this service than I have ever derived from the more traditional services. I don’t know that the style is something I would necessarily feel comfortable in all the time, or that I could make this church my home, but it definitely was a rejuvenating and enlightening experience of faith. I was impressed with how much time everyone in this church put in to the service, and how they truly seemed to not only pay attention, but appeared to have connected with God in the service based on their responses and loud praise during song. At times, I was struck by the more fire and brimstone approach, trying to figure out whether I liked it better or not than what was used to. I feel there truly are positives and negatives to both my type of church and the 16^th Street Baptist Church, but neither one is more proper or correct in how they conduct themselves. I feel I developed a much bigger respect for this style of church and worship from my experience today, and was able to draw many parallels between the church I have been brought up in and this. I would be interested to go to this style church in another area to see how the messages and feelings differ. I feel that the more verbal style of worshipping of this African American church and longer length of their service than usual shows the central importance of religion in their lifestyle and culture. I am impressed with the amount of effort that seems to be put into each individual service at this particular church.

By the next morning we had checked in to our hotel in Montgomery. I went for a run around the abandoned downtown area where all the government buildings were. I marveled at the fountain in the town center, only to learn that it was the old slave trade market. I also ran up the steps of the capital building, and was stunned when I watched the movie on the bus, showing those same steps filled with the people who had made the march from Selma to Montgomery to protest African Americans being denied the right to vote. On a later trip to the capital building with the group, I was shown a monument I had failed to notice in my earlier trip: a monument to the confederacy and its leaders. I am appalled that this monument was allowed to have been constructed at all, much less next to the capital building, and containing all the flags of the confederacy and with very white supremacist quotes adorning the walls. This was a powerful message to me, showing that this is just one way in which racism continues to exist even today. More refreshing was the fountain monument to Martin Luther King Jr. in front of the Southern Poverty Law Center. It was such a place of peace with the slow flowing water, which seems to symbolize to me the nonviolence and slow progressing civil rights movement, but that the people kept fighting, despite obstacles, just like the water never ceased to move.

During the day, we went to the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail center, where we toured and had a cookout. It was nice to have a little time to explore and process all that we have been taking in over the past few days. The displays in the Center, as well as the very provocative memory they showed struck me very firmly. Each day of the trip has seemed to loosen me up a little bit, and hit into me a little harder as the information begins to accumulate and conceptualize itself. Though I first learned about the differences in ethnicities and the civil rights movement when I was young, I don’t think the depth of it has really come full circle to me until this trip. Each day serves as a stepping stone for me in my understanding and identifying with the discrimination that African Americans have faced ever since they came to America, and continue to face even today.

On Tuesday morning, after checking out of the hotel and loading the bus for Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, we walked to the Southern Poverty Law Center. This by far has been the most touching part of the trip so far for me. I can’t tell you exactly why, though the movie, discussion, and stories all depicted brutal stories and thoughts, but something about today just hit me. Seeing the faces of these poor victims, both African American and white, who died at the hands of organizations such as the KKK and the Night Riders, and the sheer number of people we know about, let alone the ones we don’t, just overtook me. Sitting in the movie and seeing the number of white power organizations still in power, combined with the horrific story of Michael Donald’s lynching, were enough to just kind of push me over the edge, though in a good way. Maybe another reason this day impacted me so much was because of my passion for justice, and continued interest in the law profession. Over the past few years, I have gone back and forth as to what career I want to pursue; after today, I think my choice to go to law school has been cemented. I could totally see myself doing the type of law that Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center does. I have struggled with how to combine my want to genuinely help people who are in the most dire need of help with my passion for justice and other skills in that area. I bought a book on how Dees came to be what he is today, and hope it will continue to lead me down a path towards what I want to be in the future. I’ve always heard that you can tell which lawyers are in their field because of passion, and which are there for money, and the ones who do it because they are truly driven to help, stand out among the crowd. This is what I would like to become.

The experience of walking across the same bridge that the people who marched from Selma to Montgomery did was one of great importance. This in particular really put us in the mindset of what it was like to walk right down into the police officers with their clubs and dogs, and how intense the walk they made must have been even beyond any concept we could ever have of it. Following, going to the George Washington Carver Projects was a little bit of a different experience for me. I couldn’t help feeling like we were being somewhat invasive into the homes of people, and felt like I wanted to hide my camera to avoid being rude. I began to feel somewhat uncomfortable and unwelcome in the neighborhood due to some of the looks and yells we got from some of the residents. It still was definitely important to see to give us an idea of where the march actually began, and how little the area seems to have changed since the march took place many years ago.

Southern Poverty Law Center: I was very impressed with the work they do at the Southern Poverty Law Center. Who knew? I didn’t even know there was a Civil Rights Memorial anywhere. The memorial is very well done, the work of Maya Lin, architect of the Vietnam Memorial.

This inscription is very special to me, as Dr. King included it in every one of his speeches and I have learned to listen for it. (Confession: while we were in church Sunday, I spent some time looking up the original verse in Amos 4:24)

If I had my life to live over again, I would go to law school instead of library school and work at a place such as this, with the ultimate goal of becoming a Supreme Court justice. Too late for me, but maybe not for my son Alexander who is a rising senior philosophy major at the University of Michigan.

Selma: very sad, very poor, seemingly unchanged. I was among those who were very uncomfortable walking the streets in the George Washington Carver district. I wasn’t afraid, but I felt embarrassed that our group was so intrusive in the lives of the people there. Dr. Hattery warned us not to look at them like we were at the zoo, but it was not possible to look like anything other than we were, rich American tourists with bling bling and cameras around our necks, gawking at the sites.

The long ride to Mississippi was over before we knew it and we faced the ironic contrast of the desolate hurricane-damaged landscape with the glitz of the newly rebuilt Hollywood Casino. A sociologist would perhaps have something to say about the fact that there is always money in America to rebuild casinos while the people of the town are still waiting for FEMA trailers and insurance settlements.

The surprise of the trip occurred after we checked into the hotel and I went with Ronnie, our driver, to scope out the location of the library and the places we would visit tomorrow. We drove along the Beach Road, looking like the surface of the moon almost two years after Katrina. In the course of the trip, Ronnie opened up to share his political views, predicting that history would be made in the next election when the first woman would be elected President of the United States. And further, he would help work for Hillary to make it so. Go Ronnie!

Today was a busy one. After spending the holiday in a Montgomery ghost town, this morning we all trekked up to the Southern Poverty Law Center. We started out spending some time in the Civil Rights Memorial Center, reading individual stories about those who had lost their lives in relation to the Civil Rights Movement. It was sobering to see the names of over 120 people who had died as a result of hate, both directed and random. Our guide, Andrew, spent an hour with us talking about the work of the SPLC. I was not familiar with this organization prior to this trip, then assumed that they had a narrow focus on racial civil rights issues. However, they are active in several areas. Andrew told us about a current project to address the problems with immigrants who suffer abuse through the guest worker program. He told us of workers who are promised good wages only to find that to make the wage they have to plant 2000 trees per day! Of course, that doesn’t happen. They get deeper into debt that they will never be able to repay, ending up modern-day slaves. He also showed us the Hate Map that the SPLC maintains. It was disturbing to see a group based in Clemmons (not to mention 3 in good old Winston-Salem.

After saying goodby to Montgomery (after returning briefly to our hotel for a pillow retrieval mission by David, and a bank run by Antonio), we headed to Selma to walk the Edmund Pettus Bridge and visit the George Washington Carver Homes. These were both important sites/landmarks in the March. The bridge walk was great, but I admit I felt vaguely uncomfortable walking down the street in the GWC Home area. I felt like I stood out like a sore thumb. It’s not that I felt unsafe, just uneasy. It also was sobering to visit the interior of the only neighborhood store. The clerk and the goods were located behind metal screening.

A librarian aside: Lynn and I noticed athletic shoes hanging over telephone wires in a few spots. When we pondered what the reason was, our students told us it indicates that drugs are sold there. Not doubting their explanation, but seeking more details, I Googled it this evening and found this interesting article on it from Snopes titled The Secret Language of Sneakers.

After a lovely Taco Bell lunch on the bus, we headed down into Mississippi to Bay St. Louis, where we are rooming at the Hollywood Casino. There’s fairly good Internet connectivity, tons of slot machines, no exercise room. But the good news is that Lynn and I found out we are eligible for tomorrow’s half price Senior Buffet. That’s good stuff!