Dear Bloggers: Today, we met Rutha Harris, an original Freedom Singer. She was surely one of God’s Angels on earth with her voice. As I have said before it is so much more interesting to meet people that have walked the walk. Just having the chance to meet her and listen to her sing is one thing, but we cut ally got to sing with her. It sent shivers up your spine. And again tears flowing. What these people gave up and put up for the sake of freedom, not only for themselves but for all non whites. These people never thought twice about what they would endure, because to them it could not be any worse than what they had already been enduring. Growing up in my small town in the 60s I had no idea of the suffering that was going on. With only 2 tv channels, I didnt watch a lot of tv. We played outside. We didn’t have to worry about being in before dark because the Police would stop you for no reason. We talked to anyone passing on the street, we didn’t have to worry about crossing the street if a white person was walking towards me, or not make eye contact with them for fear of being beaten up, or possibly murdered. While I was playing, Black children my age, we meeting and going to jail for the right to be free and equal. I think, would I have been able to do what they did at their age, and I think, no way, I know I would have never had what it takes to do what they did, what they gave up, and put up with. But thank God there were people, young, old,male, female Black and some White,that were willing to do what they had to do for freedom. I am so moved every time I hear the freedom song. We talk about how guilty we are feeling for the actions against the Black by others that came before us. And through it all the Black stood firm in their faith, sang their gospel songs and prayed for peace and non violence, and even prayed for the whites. It makes me wonder, where was my Church during this time? I don’t remember any one in Church discussing the civil rights movement at all. Why was nothing ever talked about? Did they stick their heads in the sand like so many others? I think it’s time for me to go back to.”my roots” and find out more.

Roots

The theme for this trip is “Returning to our Roots.” When I saw this at our introductory meeting a few months ago, I didn’t fully grasp the theme. Am I really returning to MY roots? Until these past few days, I’ve always assumed that the Civil Rights Movement is a history integral to African American roots. I assumed I was going to be a passive observer to someone else’s history this week.

Watching videos of the horrendous acts against African Americans, listening to the courage and conviction in Dr. King’s speeches, and sitting in the sanctuary where Dr. King preached countless times made me realize that this trip isn’t just about my African American brothers and sisters returning to their roots, it’s about me returning to mine as well. The history of Civil Rights and racism in our country is not just an evil against my African American neighbors, it’s an evil against me. If it is true that we are the Body of Christ, then just as a wounded arm impacts the entire body, so too does inequality infect all humankind.

“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” -Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Two Days In, Lots of Questions

Here we go!

My name is Dan Custer and I’m very excited to be on this journey with some amazing Messiah College faculty, staff, and students! Before we officially hit the road tomorrow morning, I wanted to introduce myself. I’m a 2009 graduate of Messiah College in Biblical and Religious Studies and Adventure Education. I’m currently working on my M.A. in Higher Education from Messiah while also working in the Development Office.

I’m humbled by the journey ahead. In some ways, I feel as though I’m the least qualified to embark on this journey. My ignorance is quite embarrassing. On the other hand, this trip will by design wake me to the harsh reality of life (past, present, and unfortunately future), so perhaps I’m right where God wants me.

My motivation is simple. I’m continually saddened by the fact that others have not been afforded the privileges I assumed inherent to life. If I am to truly love God and love my neighbors, then I must become more intentional about my response to inequality in society.

My specific area of interest is higher education. Thus, in addition to finding my personal “voice” in the conversation, I hope to utilize this time to understand inequality in the college and university setting and unpack ways in which institutions must respond, especially in an increasingly budget-strapped context.

I hope you’ll join this journey vicariously through this blog. Please also pray for our safety when traveling and for wisdom and patience as we inevitably experience cognitive dissonance.

Get ready, because the journey starts in less than 5 hours!

Dan

Hello all. today was the first day of our journey. We met at Messiah and piled into two van. We drove out to Pittsburgh where we are staying at the Chapel Valley Estates Bed and Breakfast. It is beautiful here. We then enjoyed a nice dinner and fellowship at a castle that pretended to be a restaurant. It was great. We are now settled in, some are working on school work and I am blogging. We are all so excited to be together, to learn together and to fellowship together. We are already helping each other out with who has which book that we would like to read on the long trip to N.C. Our last member Stacey just arrived, so our group of 13 is now complete. Today has just been a day to get to know each other, tomorrow starts our journey into the information portal that will put us on an emotional roller coaster.

Here’s Hoping

Let me introduce myself. Hello, I am Josiah Hatfield. I’m the residence director of one of the first-year buildings (Naugle Hall) here on Messiah’s campus. I’m thrilled to come together with colleagues and students from both Messiah and Geneva in order to witness, discuss, experience, and process the Civil Rights Movement.

As in any educational context, the hope is that the knowledge doesn’t just go in one ear and out the other. Working in residence life, my hope with my RAs and residents isn’t that they just survive dorm-life or stay out of trouble. Rather, I hope that my students encounter a transformational learning experience, stumbling upon the inherent value in committing to one another or carrying conversations from the classroom/chapel over into the lounges (or a plethora of other things).

Likewise with this trip, I hope to be changed. I hope to learn a lot about the movement but I also want to be renewed in my sense of understanding of what’s come before me on issues of diversity and reconciliation and what that looks like today. I hope to recognize subtle (and blatant?) forms of prejudice in myself and work against those. I hope to discover new ways to challenge the students I work with to be courageous and inclusive. I have a lot of hopes…

– Josiah

Getting Ready for the Civil Rights Tour 2013

As an Officer of the Dept. of Safety, I am thrilled to be chosen to go on this tour.  To be very honest, at first I thought this will be a nice trip away, and I was only frightened at the thought of blogging, which I have never done before.  But I ordered three of the books on the list, and have only gotten through the book “The Civil Rights Movement” by Steven Kasher. And I can tell already that I have changed my opinion of the trip.  I no longer think this will be easy…the more I read the book the angrier I became.  I really became angry at the Law Enforcement Officers that were supposed to protect and serve.  No where in my code of conduct did it ever say I was only to protect and serve white people.  I have mixed feelings about the trip already.  I am excited to go, but also am scared of my feelings and how I will react to the prejudice and injustices that were part of our history.  So, I am ready to start this new adventure and am grateful for my other collegues like Dan and Josiah that are going with me. Let my blogging lesson begin…Liz