Today is our last and final day in Montgomery and we went to the bridge that the black people tried to cross to get there voting rights and they were attacked by the police. The tradition name for that day is “Bloody Sunday.” We crossed that bridge and went into the town of Selma Alabama and it is a predominately black town.

Most of the people that were involved in the march that was from Carver housing and we went there today to find that they had historical things that Martin Luther King spoke on and the churches that he spoke at all on the same street. The people of Selma are low income

Today opened my eyes to a lot of things that I take for granted or the things that I am just naive to. What I did not know was that a lot of people lost their life to grant me the voting privilege. From here on I vow to myself to vote and not just to vote for the justice of myself but because of the people that sacrificed their life to give me that privilege to vote. I was down most of the day but I still seemed to mingle with my peers.

 The first full day in Montgomery I learned about the walk for voting privileges. The walk was from Selma Alabama to Montgomery but first we learned about the racial tension that was occurring in Montgomery and the whole time I was thinking how could white people do or treat other human beings like they did, how could they not acknowledge the fact that black people breathe the same air they breathe. I had built up a lot of animosity in heart towards white people during that time and at times I know that it probably showed on my face to my peers that I was anger, upset and mad. I was really bothered by things that happened to my people during that time of history. I just could not understand how a human being can treat another human being like trash. But when professor Hattery and Smith put in document about this white man that basically gave up his life to help the black the people, it total changed my views from seeing all white people as the same during that time.

Today we celebrated Memorial Day and had a cookout. We had a lot of bounding times as a group. It seemed as if we got lost for a second but our SUPER bus driver Ronnie got us back on the right track. We stop to a local store and got hamburger patties, hot dogs, chips, water and soda for cookout. The food was great and I have to give it up for SUPER Ronnie for making it happen.

While we were waiting on the food to get done cooking we started to explore the historical sight that they had there. The historical place was mainly about the walk from Selma to Montgomery. While in the historical place we tent that people lived in because they had lost their jobs because they wanted to vote. We watched a document that basically explained everything that we saw and after our exploring we had a great cookout.

Today we went to Selma, Alabama and walked the “Edmund Pettis Bridge.” I really was not able to take in the entire experience because I was to worried about not looking at the water that flowed below me, but at the same time it was a very powerful walk. After reaching the end I learned about the many problems present in Selma, Alabama from Dr. Hattery. We then walked through the George Washington Carver housing projects, where the march began. This was a great experience, because we had seen footage of every place that we had visited in previous days.

After walking the street we loaded the bus grabbed some lunch to go and headed to Mississippi. We watched Spike Lee’s “4 Little Girls,” which is a historical documentary film about the 1963 16^th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham. Although I’ve never heard of the film it was well done. It was interesting to get a different perspective because the documentary went more into the thoughts of the actual family members of the victims.

Today we traveled through Selma, Alabama and half-way to Montgomery to an interpretive center. The center highlighted certain aspects of the march from Selma to Montgomery. I was under the impression that we were going to have a picnic since it was Memorial Day weekend and nothing was really open. This was not a bad idea to me because I thought of it as a “break” from the emotion that I had felt the previous days. Things did not quite go as I expected, because the interpretive center was full of information and the film we watched was by far the best that we had seen.

On a happier note I met some of the workers from the center, and learned from them that the childhood home of Ben Wallace, an NBA All-Star, was located 100 feet from where I was standing. This was very thrilling considering that he is one of my favorite NBA players. We then grilled hamburgers and hotdogs, ate watermelon, and carried on conversation with each other to end the perfect Memorial Day.

After arriving back to the hotel we walked as a class through historic downtown Montgomery. We saw the Slave trade market, and I learned an interesting fact about them. I was very unaware of how the market was organized or how slaves were chosen. My guess before reading more about this was that it was similar to the movie “Gladiator,” where the gladiators were caged and inspected by potential buyers. Those thought to be more helpful with labor were the more expensive slaves.

We walked to the state capital and I noticed that at the very front there was a large statue of Jefferson Davis, and a monument dedicated to the history of the Confederacy. There were other statues on the ground, but I had never heard of them and found it hard to understand why they had statues of them and not one of Dr. Martin Luther King, who was the pastor at a church one block down for six year.

This is my first post in a while as I have had a rough couple of days, emotionally speaking. At the church this morning, I thought again of something that has bothered me off and on throughout the trip and hit home most especially in Hancock County.

Primum non nocere means “First, do no harm.” Sociology involves the science of observing people and then analyzing how and why they behave the way they do. I am not a sociologist, but the techniques of observation and analysis are familiar to me from my doctoral work. What has bothered me is the risk we take in harming the people that we study through the very act of observation. I was uncomfortable at both the George Washington Carver homes and the Lower 9th Ward because it seemed we were close to the line, if not crossing it, of gawking at the residents of the neighborhood and causing them discomfort. A 45′ bus is not an easy thing to disguise and neither is a multicultural group of 23 people with cameras. A number of participants have already blogged guiltily about the hand-lettered sign on a falling-down house in the 9th ward reminding us that “1600 people died 4 u 2 take this picture.”

In Hancock County, students had the additional complication of carrying out a service project while at the same time being trained to observe social stratification issues around them. These blogs are wonderful tools for collaborative work but they are also a public display of research in progress. In the 72 hours we stayed in Hancock County, views of the community matured rapidly among many participants. Surface observations at the beginning of the trip often did not hold up to be valid. The consensus at the end was that this was a strong, closely knit community trying its best to recover from a storm of unnatural ferocity and restore the community to all its residents. We went to help, I only hope that we did no harm.

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!

Though it has been a couple of days since we did our walking tour of the George Washington Carver Homes-a housing project in Selma, AL-for me this is one of the most important and profound parts of this class.

The GWC Homes was the staging area for the Selma-Montgomery Voting Rights March of 1965. There were several reasons for this. First, its physical proximity to the Edmund Pettis Bridge…it is only 6 blocks away. Second, there are three churches in the GWC Homes which were natural gathering places for marchers who were led by the preaching of Martin Luther King, Jr. (he preached in at least two of the churches rallying the marchers). And, third, the people living in the GWC Homes were precisely the people that the march was designed to liberate: the vulnerable: they were African American and poor.

Walking through the GWC Homes I saw children playing, I saw mothers hanging out laundry, and I saw young, African American men who should have been at school or work simply “hanging out”. Walking through the GWC Homes in 2007 reminds me of the writings of sociologists like Elijah Anderson, William J. Wilson, and Erik O. Wright. All three describe the outcomes of cordoning off a class of people, the underclass, into ghettos that leave them cut-off and isolated from the economic, political, and social life of society.

The sociologist William J. Wilson in his book on “Work” speaking to the issue of joblessness puts it this way:

For the first time in the twentieth century most adults in many inner-city ghetto neighborhoods are not working in a typical week. The disappearance of work had adversely affected not only individuals, families, and neighborhoods, but the social life of the city at large as well. Inner-city joblessness is a severe problem that is often overlooked or obscured when the focus is placed mainly on poverty and its consequences. (Wilson, 1996:xiii)

The terrible irony of the GWC Homes is that the people who live there now are the very people, or look like the very people, who the marchers intended to liberate: the GWC Homes is still a ghetto in which to cordon-off poor African American men, women, and children. The second irony is that they are named for a many who worked so hard to liberate this group: George Washington Carver: scientist, inventor, and leader of Tuskegee University.

Later that same day we traveled on the bus to the gulf coast of Mississippi, to Bay St. Louis-Waveland. The closer we got to the coast the more we could see the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Katrina came on shore at on the outskirts of Waveland. 80-90% of the housing in these communities was destroyed. Thousands and thousands of people were displaced and left homeless. Nearly two years later Bay St. Louis still has no grocery store. Most people still do not have mail delivery to their homes (if they have moved back in) or their FEMA trailers. I assume this is because mailboxes are technically federal property and the federal government has to re-establish mail service.

Though the communities are starting to rebuild, in many ways the area looks the same as it did in the days and weeks after the Hurricane hit. It is hard to imagine the devastation until you see it first hand.

As the people we met her talked with sheer joy about the day the Bay Bridge re-opened (it re-opened last week nearly 22 months after the Hurricane), I didn’t quite grasp the importance of this bridge. As I listened more and asked questions I learned that when the bridge was closed the city of Bay St. Louis was essentially cut off from the economic, political, and social life of society. Citizens of Bay St. Louis were cut off from the only hospital that had re-opened, from the only grocery store that had re-opened, from the only place their mail would be delivered. They were cut off from their jobs. And, though their cordoning-off was perhaps not as severe as it is for those living in the George Washington Carver Homes, they could get to a grocery store or a hospital, they were cut off symbolically and their lives were significantly impacted. What had been a 10 minute drive to work or the local hospital for an emergency became a 40 or 50 minute drive. Yes, they could get to the hospital, but that distance would make survival in an emergency (a heart attack or stroke) significantly less likely. Though they could drive to a grocery store they might have trouble getting there during the limited hours the store operated after the Hurricane (or the “storm” as they refer to it), making it more difficult to keep a refrigerator full of nutritious food.

This experience, while different, can be compared to that of the citizens of the GWC Homes who had Louis’s store, a 100 square foot building with no air conditioning, in the middle of the project, where they could by Vienna Sausages or Three Musketeer’s bar, but where they could not buy fresh fruits and vegetables or lean meats….the ingredients necessary for a healthy, nutritious diet.

Cordoning-off and isolation happen in many different ways and to many different people. These last two days have shown me that though different in scale, the experience of being cordoned off is devastating, no matter what the cause or the magnitude.

Hey Emma: Congrats on passing the Algebra EOC J

Hey Trav: Good luck as you prepare for your finals!

Love you both…mom

Day 4, Memorial Day, it felt very awkward spending my memorial day with teachers and students on a bus in Alabama then spending it with my mom, dad, sister, brother and family members. But overall the day was beautiful, we learn more about the Selma to Montgomery march. The most interesting thing I learned about the march was that it was both black and whites were marching together to Montgomery. After watching it, it made me think again about our history, and a question came to mind after watching the documentary and it was ” Were all whites the same?”. The march to Montgomery was diverse and that really showed me that even though history shows blacks getting brutally beat by whites, it was not all whites that were doing the crimes. Oh yea and we saw the home of Ben Wallace, that was interesting also.

Again I’m posting this a few days late…I’ll catch up soon.
What to say about today? Well its Memorial Day so the majority of places we would have gone were closed, like the Rosa Parks Museum. We ended up having a great day though. We went to a place called the Interpretive Learning Center. It is located on Highway 80, which is where people marched from Selma, AL to Montgomery to fight for voter registration rights. There was an exhibit inside the building, as well as surrounding the building telling stories of the march. We also watched a video that gave different people’s perspectives of the march. When I say different perspectives I mean even white supremacists who felt that the black people injured or killed deserved it. It was really powerful to watch the video and see the different opinions and to learn more about the march. I think I take for granted the right to vote, because it is something I’ve been exposed to all my life and looking forward to for just as long.

I remember a time when I was younger, maybe 4 or 5 years old, I remember an adult in my life telling me that because we live in a free country she could say that she hates the president without getting in trouble. In addition she had the ability to vote for who she wanted and had some impact (even if it is minimal) on the outcome of an election. The right to vote, the ability to register to vote and the actual process of voting are something I never really considered. It became a second nature thought. My point in talking about that is that I never considered the idea of needing to fight for the right to register to vote. It was never an experience I had to deal with or encountered the thought of it on a very personal level. It was something we talked about in history class a couple times, but I wasn’t aware of the circumstances of it or the consequences. Going to the Interpretive Center forced me to recognize some of those things.

Later in the day, following reflections (which were interesting to say the least) we walked to the Dexter Ave Baptist Church where Martin Luther King Jr. had served as pastor for numerous years and to the capitol building. One of the monuments on the property of the capitol building was thoroughly disturbing to me. It was a monument commemorating the Confederate soldiers and the righteousness of the South. I think my favorite quote from the monument was this: “The knightliest of the knightly race who since the days of old, have kept the lamp of chivalry alight in hearts of gold.” Another good one came from around the corner on the monument. It read: “Fame’s temple boasts no higher name, no king is grander on his throne; no glory shines with brighter gleam, the name of ‘patriot’ stands alone.” Surrounded by the lovely monument were 4 versions of the Confederate flag, with plaques underneath them that alluded to the purity of the South in their fight for freedom. I can’t say that sat very well with me; especially with it sitting right next to the building for the capitol of Alabama.

As I mentioned previously reflections for the day were interesting. We discussed a piece entitled “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh. It’s basically a list of daily things that whites tend to have more privilege in, but may go unrecognized by them. There was a long period of time during the reflection time when I was unable to talk, because Marcus asked that only the African-American students speak. It was really frustrating because there were so many times when I had something to say. Not that I could necessarily relate to things they said, but because I wanted to stand up for myself. I felt like some people were making huge generalizations and it was upsetting. I know that happens all the time and to all people. I don’t really want to go into that though.

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.