When I heard that our fall break service trip would be in Mississippi, I was excited and anxious about the experience. I expected going into the trip that the issue of racism would be brought up and somewhat prevalent, but I didn’t know to what extent. The first night that we were there, our site host told us that at night, the gazebo area in the center of the town was “Whites Only.” To say that hearing that caught me off guard would be an understatement. Growing up, I learned about the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement and the extreme hardships that people went through due to their race. However, maybe it was due to my own naivety, but I thought that those types of outright segregation ended years ago. I never expected to hear about “Whites Only” places or a neighborhood that had a “members only” pool. The week that we spent going around the city and speaking with members of the community opened my eyes to the still present issues of racism in our country.
During our trip, we were able to
meet people in the community who had first-hand experience of direct and
indirect racism, yet they all seemed to have some of the most optimistic
outlooks on life that I have ever encountered. One woman spoke to us about her
experiences growing up in Calhoun City. I would’ve understood if she had hard
feelings towards those who mistreated her. However, she had no ill feelings
towards them or her experiences. Rather, she was able to find the positives in
her experiences and not let what she had experienced hinder her from doing what
she knows she is capable of achieving. I greatly admired her and her outlook on
her past experiences and on life and others in general. One thing that she said
that stuck out to me was that she didn’t see how she could dislike someone who
may mistreat her or who was of a different ethnicity than her because she saw
everyone as being a part of the same human family. “The same blood that runs in
me runs in you.” She was just one of the many people that we met during our
trip who were working towards breaking down the racial barriers that is still
present in their community.
I feel incredibly blessed to have
had the opportunity to go to Mississippi and meet and interact with such
inspiring people. I believe as a group, we grew closer together through our experiences
at the elementary school and at the Excel Center, but especially in our
discussions about what we heard and what we observed during our time there. The
times that we spent with the kids at the elementary school and at the Excel Center
will be some of my fondest memories of the trip. It’s difficult knowing,
though, that we were only able to do so much for the kids in the amount of time
that we were there. There is always this desire within myself to see a tangible
change towards improvement in the lives of those that I help. But I think it’s
unrealistic to expect this type of instant change, especially with a short trip
such as our own. I would love to think that we made a huge impact on the kids’
lives, but I know realistically we did what we could with the time that we were
given, and we did our best to have a positive influence on their lives.
I think the greatest change that
happened during this trip, though, wasn’t in the lives of the kids that we met,
but in our own lives. We experienced a different way of living that most of us
were not familiar with before this trip, and we grew in our understanding and
knowledge of the daily struggles that people are living with. It made us
empathetic and conscious of the lifestyles of others and made us more appreciative
of the opportunities that we are blessed to have.
- Lorraine Martinez
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