The Ongoing Struggle

While on this trip we all have gotten an amount of information that is not only overwhelming but awesome in a horrible sort of way. I am in awe of how much hate existed in the South in the past and currently. Last night we all had the privilege of meeting Cleopatra Goree, Catherine Burks-Brooks, and Barbara Mines. These courageous women opened up to us and shared their tear-jerking tales. Each of them was involved in the Civil Rights Movement. They spoke to us about their experiences, thoughts and feeling about the movement and about their own contributions. I felt very fortunate that they were willing to give us a more personal understanding of the movement. In particular I enjoyed hearing Ms. Burks-Brooks speak about how racism effected her childhood. She shared a story with us about spending Mondays with her mother and wanting to go to a carnival that was in town that week on a Monday. As a child she didn't understand why the carnival was open through the week but she was only allowed to go the last day of the carnival; Saturday. On that Saturday, when Ms. Burks-Brooks was allowed to go to the carnival, the rides were being taken down. This may seem like a small loss compared to the incredible amount of inequality of this time but I was affected by this story greatly. I think that the seemingly small degrading acts, the effort to make blacks feel less than human, truly show the evil that was instilled into this country. This evil still lives within some Americans today which you can read in the blogs posted by my peers. I have been unaware of the hate that still exists in the United States and have been regarding the majority of racism as history for far too long. I am disappointed to realize how alive racism is currently. The activists of the 50's and 60's have done so much to better this country but we can not regard The Civil Rights Movement as the past; we all must continue the journey to equality and finish what past generations have started.
-Lucy B.