(1/22/14)
Yesterday we visited Simmons High School in the Mississippi Delta region. After touring the school with the students and eating lunch with them we went to visit the Sunflower County Freedom Project. The entire day was extremely motivating, moving, touching, defeating, hopeful, and emotionally draining. Seeing the blatant segregation was disheartening and made me feel like i was visiting a completely different country or like i was observing the way things were in the '60s. There were absolutely no resources in the community and they just recently got their first grocery store. The students explained how all the white kids go to the private school for high school.
Later, when we met with students from the Freedom Project I was greatly affected by the stories they told of living in the Mississippi Delta region and seeing how optimistic, dedicated, and hopeful the students were. Directly after the visit I felt so conflicted. I had felt all my life that I was living by values of equality and justice, but thinking about the negative impact I am having on the educations of some students attending inner city schools and the racism and segregation that I'm perpetuating by attending a private school made me feel sick. I'm more determined than ever to focus on the Baltimore community and to fight injustice and inequality in whatever ways I can.
Elana Liebow-Feeser, Park
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