Students Confront Realities of Racism
Seventeen Westmont students spent their spring break in Mississippi and Alabama engaging and responding to issues relating to racism and social justice.
The Racial Equality and Justice (REJ) group worked with the John M. Perkins Foundation in Jackson, Miss., which purchases and renovates houses and makes them available to single mothers and Katrina survivors. The students painted, cleaned and completed other renovations to several homes.
The group also visited the home of civil rights leader Medgar Evers, where he was assassinated in 1963 for his commitment to and passion for justice. They also went to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, the 16th Street Baptist Church where four girls were killed in 1963, and Kelly Ingram Park where Birmingham police and firefighters attacked civil rights demonstrators with fire hoses and dogs.
“It was a week of hard work, tough discussions and spiritual enrichment,” said Elena Yee, director of intercultural programs and REJ advisor. “We enjoyed southern hospitality and food and had our stereotypes of the South appropriately dismantled and transformed.”
Junior Ashley Kraybill says that previous experience and knowledge of oppression, poverty or racial segregation didn’t prepare her for the week in Jackson, Miss.
“To understand the historical background and the sociological structure of our society is so important,” she says. “I learned about the world in a way I never have before and feel as though my experiences will stay with me always.”
Two parents also went on the trip. Stan Fluitt, father of senior Sam Fluitt, says he was impressed with and inspired by the group of students.
“Seeing first hand the pain and despair resulting from racism is very emotional for students,” he says. “I was moved by their ability to articulate some very difficult feelings, their compassion and the depth of their convictions.”
Now that the students have returned to campus, they are raising funds for a Westmont-sponsored house for the John M. Perkins Foundation.