Considering other movements

Day One- Civil Rights Trip
    Woke up at 4 AM to finish packing and get ready for The Civil Rights Tour!! This trip is a week long experience where we travel through the South and visit prevalent Civil Rights places. This morning the bus left a bit late due to technical difficulties but we ended up getting to all of our destinations relatively on time! Other than sleeping for he first six hours on the bus I also started to get to know all of the people I'll be spending the next week with!
     First stop: FW Woolworth's Co.! Birth place of the sit-ins that spread like rapid fire through the South. The original department store has long since been shut down but was reopened as a museum dedicated not only to the Greensboro Four and the movement in Greensboro but to all civil rights movements and events in the United States.
    Next we went to see the Greensboro Four Statue on A&T campus and speak to a man named Lewis Brandon about his involvement in the Greensboro sit-ins. I found it really interesting how the sit-ins impacted the rest of his life as well. He's continued to participate in movements and protests for the rest of his life! Currently he's protesting police brutality in Greensboro and immigration laws. Brandon made a great point that some movements, that were just as important, are not as well broadcasted because despite being some of the largest they weren't as violent and not as much media concerned themselves with them. I think it's so interesting that in classes there is so much we miss because it just wasn't as well covered by the media. For example, in class I've learned about the shooting at Kent State but not about the military take over at A&T college in 1969 just because the media wasn't as involved. Mr. Brandon also made me more aware about how much I'm missing even in the present day-- about two weeks ago three people were killed in Wichita Kansas by a clansmen! While I did know it wasn't true, a naive part of me wanted to think that the klansmen just don't exist these days but that really isn't true. The media just doesn't cover it as massively and nationally as it once did.
    While this trip is focused on the African American Civil Rights Movement, we are also told to consider all of the other movements that have occurred in the United States and around the world and to reflect in Pressing Civil Rights issues in the 21st century. The discussion on the bus was very interesting and with my partner we came up with several matters that we care about: Marriage Equality, Gender Equality, women's rights (I.e. Abortion rights for women) and the improvement immigration policies.

Carolyn Mobley
City College