Welcome,
Our day began at the Rosa Parks museum on the Troy University campus. While walking towards the museum, our group learned interesting facts about one another and passed an outdated Greyhound bus station. The museum is an interactive space in downtown Montgomery in which visitors are able to see the sparks of the bus movement. A video was projected on a three-dimensional bus where the altercation between the bus driver, police, officer, Mrs. Parks, and the community were all a part of. After the video a brief audio clip of Joanne Robinson, an activist who is credited for creating leaflets telling citizens of Montgomery to avoid the bus system, was played. Once in the museum, the first large visible picture shows what the bus looked like the next day– an empty bus with a single passenger. Montgomery lost $3,000 everyday after community members decided to carry on with the bus movement.
The city did not let the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) get car insurance to allow their city members to travel throughout the town. MLK even went as far as London to receive insurance, yet the city still would not accept it. Eventually, the MIA bought cars in the name of different churches in which taxes did not need to be paid and insurance not had. For the almost 400 days, volunteers of the churches in the greater Montgomery area drove community members around. Cars could only make four trips per day, and carry four passengers at a time. Drivers and travelers had to be intuitive as officers kept their eye on every move of the MIA, waiting find a reason to stop the movement. Fortunately, the bus movement ended (due to faulty cars) within hours of the time Browder v. Gayle case ruled bus segregation in Montgomery was unconstitutional.
After the museum, we were lucky enough to volunteer at the Resurrection Catholic K-8 School. I was able to work with Mrs. Graham’s 4th grade class on math, reading, and history. Not only was working with students very rewarding, it was validating telling someone how to multiply 12 x 12, sound out “sensational,” and spell the word “secede.” After only being in the room for a few hours, I learned all of the children’s names and left each one with a hug, and them asking if I would come back tomorrow.
For dinner, we ate delicious burrito bowls and then reflected on the movie from last night as well as talked about a passage from the book Between the World and Me. Although I have already seen the documentary 3 1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets, the movie still surprises me with the lack of respect and blatant disregard for black youth. Jordan Davis is dead, and his story becomes yet another case of an unarmed black teen who is killed. We ended the conversation by speaking on guilt and privilege and how we can use our education here and in Portland to further the cause of racial equity and social justice.
Cheers,
Amen M.