Entering my summer, I did not at all anticipate the relevance my experiences would accrue by the time I exited it. Yet I did not suspect the world around me would look so strangely different when I reentered a more familiar setting such as Mississippi State University. Through an internship with The Meridian Freedom Project, in the unassuming yet historically significant city of Meridian, Mississippi, I experienced revelations of life-long importance.
While I stayed on the campus of Meridian Community College, a short drive down the road lead me right to the heart of downtown Meridian, my place of work being only slightly off-set from the center of town. Here, I would arrive daily at around 7:15 a.m., preparing to receive a multitude of rising sixth, seventh and eighth graders, all enrolled in a program designed to maximize their summer experience.
As anticipated, the vast majority of my students were black, that being fairly consistent with the demographic make-up of the area and the schools these students attended. As submerged as I was in this environment of evident need, I became incredibly receptive to learning about the paths of life my students walked, not in the spirit of correction and reform, but of understanding and encouragement. I had no idea that by the end of my foray into teaching I would have learned at least as much from my students and their world as I felt I had taught them.
These energetic kids, called “Freedom Fellows,” were cared for by our team (consisting of seven interns and a staff of three) until late in the afternoon each day, being instructed in math, reading and rhetoric, as well as fitness, health, art, drama, contemporary issues, etc. And undergirding the whole enterprise was a focus on equipping these young students for success beyond their small world – with much of our mission being to make that small world bigger. A large part of this was achieved through surveying the past, particularly the struggle for civil rights our nation has experienced, and by making connections to our world today.
This summer was of particular importance with regard to the history of civil rights in the South, for it was the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Summer of 1964. Meridian was a hotbed for activity supporting the Civil Rights Movement, and the summer of 1964 proved an integral part of the march toward progress. The original Freedom Summer involved a collection of bold activism aimed at hastening the full realization of the vision of equality and justice for all — tenets that the Civil Rights Movement valued greatly.
Some of those involved support for Southern African Americans were Northerners who were both interested in the cause and equipped to aid in the process. These activists displayed incredible courage and fortitude. However, these gifts of liberty were not accepted by all with thanksgiving, but were met with harsh resistance from proponents of the deeply ingrained history of segregation and racism in the Deep South. Those who stood up against these oppressive ways did not do so without cost; some paid the ultimate price for the full freedom of others. James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, young men working with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in Meridian, were killed while on assignment in neighboring Philadelphia.
Unaware of this rich legacy of activism and civil rights when I arrived in Meridian, I was quickly overwhelmed with the magnitude of what had taken place, and even more so by my duty to carry the banner of progress forward as part of the inaugural experience of the Meridian Freedom Project. Meeting individuals who were part of the original Freedom Summer was astounding, an experience I have yet to fully process. What I was unknowingly a part of was not simply a community-building program for kids, but a massive cultural initiative beyond anything I had ever heard of. In homage to the seminal impact of the original Freedom Summer, a new, reincarnated project, nobly undertaken in the spirit of that famed effort 50 years prior, arose to further and expand the original vision. With this in mind, one feels humbled to be included in such an extraordinary enterprise.
My involvement helped me learn gentleness and patience, tact and discernment, perseverance and discipline, as well as a massive amount about empathy. This last feature deserves special attention, with consideration to racial tension not just past, but also present. Social unrest and popular outrage recently scourged our nation as a result of the perceived injustices taking place in Ferguson, Missouri. And certainly we find vile practices and corrupted citizens — in positions of authority or not — throughout our nation. Yet it is clear that race relations have not reached a point that is universally laudable. Far from it, fissures still gape wide in the American Dream — the experience broken up and shattered into pieces — with certain segments of our society able to claim the choicest fragments, while many are only able to obtain the left-overs. Society must address this.
As it stands, empathy is our greatest weapon against the insidious barriers that prejudice of all sorts can erect. Through immersing oneself in an environment far different from where he or she may feel comfortable and at-ease, there may be confrontation with lifestyles very different from the familiar and exposure to views incomprehensible to strangers. A love for one’s neighbor has never held so much meaning for me and never been so needed. Ultimately, after obtaining newly polished lenses through which to see the world, I see less of that which is divisive and defamatory, and more of that which is unifying and commendable. A genuine desire to see good in others will change all of our interactions. This perspective can be hard to maintain, with forces seen and unseen tearing our good will apart. On this journey, as with many, the more the merrier.
