NEWS
jan
30 2014
PAGE
3
Students celebrate MLK
by Patricia Vanderbilt Staff Reporter
Photos by Clay
Intercultural Center organizes 10-day MLK, Civil Rights Movement celebration
Whitman Teaches the Movement kicks off third year by Sarah Cornett News Editor
by Sam Grainger-Shuba Staff Reporter
F
rom Jan. 20-30, the Glover Alston Center and Whitman College’s Intercultural Center celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the important contributions made by leaders of the Civil Rights Movement during one of the most tumultuous times in U.S. history. While the federal holiday honoring King is Jan. 20, the Intercultural Center devoted 10 days to celebrating his life and the achievements of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. Whitman has organized commemorative events for King since the late 1980s, according to Intercultural Center Director Matthew Ozuna. On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, there was a march and candlelight vigil in honor of the leader who inspired millions. This served as the kick-off to their full schedule of events. “It’s important to remember that the Civil Rights Movement is ongoing. Dr. King’s dream has yet to be fully realized,” said Ozuna. “Civil rights leaders continue to raise issues of safe and affordable housing, income inequality and the working poor, women’s rights, immigrant rights, mass incarceration, gun violence, religious intolerance and interfaith work, voting rights, national spending priorities and LGBT equality. We all, someway, can lend support to these issues and affect positive, nonviolent social change.” Last Thursday, Jan. 23, students and Walla Walla community members trickled into the GAC for a screening of the documentary “Freedom Riders.” “I have heard about the Freedom Rides, but I’m not all that familiar with it,” said Rubio Jimenez, a Walla Walla University student who attended the screening. “Learning about mistakes we made in the past helps us not repeat them in the future.” The 2010 film, direct-
ed by Stanley Nelson, chronicles the story of a group of over 100 activists who challenged racial segregation not only in the American interstate transport system, but also in other aspects of southern American life by taking freedom rides into the deep south. “I don’t have huge awareness of the issue, so I thought that I would expand it,” said sophomore Sarah Blacher. “It was a really important time, and I would like to be better informed about it.” On Monday, Jan. 27, Kate Shuster gave a presentation entitled “Why the Movement Matters: Learning from America’s Civil Rights Struggles” as a kick-off event for Whitman Teaches the Movement. WTTM is a collaboration by Whitman College, Walla Walla Public Schools and the Southern Poverty Center’s Teaching Tolerance project. The program trains Whitman students to go into local classrooms to teach creative, historically specific lessons on the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. In addition to these activities, the Intercultural Center is hosting Civil Rights activist Diane Nash, who will facilitate a workshop with student leaders called “Nonviolent Resistance and Campaigning.” On Thursday, Jan. 30 at 7 p.m. she will give a public talk in Cordiner Hall about her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. Nash is a leader of the sit-in movement in Nashville, Tenn., a Freedom Rides organizer and a founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. “The federal holiday should be embraced by all,” said Ozuna. “Not only does it recognize the life and achievements of Dr. King; it’s the only federal holiday to celebrate community service. The holiday serves as a wonderful opportunity for members of the Whitman and Walla Walla communities—from all backgrounds and beliefs—to come together, overcome indifference and build relationships of trust, tolerance and respect.”
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hitman Teaches the Movement launched its third year on Monday, Jan. 27 with two kick-off events: a panel of educators sharing experiences in teaching the Civil Rights Movement and a guest lecture by Dr. Kate Shuster of the Southern Poverty Law Center. The two events were organized by the Student Engagement Center. In attendance were students and 10 representatives from other colleges and universities interested in learning more about Whitman Teaches the Movement, a program which sends Whitman students to local public schools to teach the Civil Rights Movement. The panel was moderated by Assistant Dean for Student Engagement Noah Leavitt, who posed questions to President George Bridges, Shuster, Walla Walla Public Schools Superintendent Mick Miller and Dayton Public Schools Superintendent Doug Johnson. They discussed their own personal experiences educating students about Civil Rights and the present awareness of diversity in their communities. “I think there’s a strong awareness of other cultures and ethnicities in our schools and communities, but not as much acceptance,” said Miller, representing a district whose student population is 41 percent Hispanic. Johnson, who comes from the perspective of a fairly non-diverse community, stated in the panel that Dayton’s population is 93 percent white. “We are a small community of mostly white farmers. There are a lot of things they’re missing on a personal level about the Civil Rights Movement, and I hope this connection with Whitman will engage with that,” he said. Most of the attendees of the panel were Whitman students involved with Whitman Teaches the Movement. The opportunity to get involved with the Walla Walla community is a valuable one, according to Bridges, especially when the work is related to education. “We believe we have a responsibility to serve Whitman students and families as well as the Walla Walla Valley,” Bridges said. ADVERTISEMENTS
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“In order to achieve that, we have to reach out, and we have to serve.” During the event, Shuster delivered a talk entitled “Why the Movement Matters: Learning from America’s Civil Rights Struggles.” She focused on the relevance of Civil Rights issues today, and the transformative power of education in shaping the way students think about diversity and justice. She also refuted preconceptions and generalities about the Civil Rights Movement, arguing that the movement was not the work of a few well-known activists alone. “If we think about it as collective action, if we think about it as a movement, then we have to recognize the stories of people like Fannie Lou Hamer ... [although] we don’t necessarily know her name. We don’t think about the party; we don’t think about the structural interaction between the parties at the convention,” she said. Whitman Teaches the Movement began after Walla Walla received less-than-satisfactory results on proficiency tests given by the SPLC analyzing public school students’ knowledge of the Civil Rights Movement. Whitman partnered with the SPLC to design a program where Whitman students educated students about Civil Rights. One of the most beneficial aspects of the program, according to senior and Whitman Teaches the Movement Co-Coordinator Allison Bolgiano, is that it partners students with other students. “Whitman Teaches the Movement is unique because it helps both college students and grade school students learn about the Civil Rights Movement, a tremendously important and inspiring social movement that unfortunately many of us only know the basics of,” she said. The two public kick-off events served to create fervor for the beginning of a new year for Whitman Teaches the Movement, a program successful enough that students come back to it each year for the powerful experience. “[Civil Rights education] is not an easy task,” said junior Tim Reed, who is participating in the program for the second year. “I think we achieved something last year, and I’m not quite sure what, but there was something there. And that’s why I was excited to come back this year.”
NUMBERS
IN THE NEWS
51
Amount, in billions, spent in preparation for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. These will be the most expensive Games ever. SOURCE: New york Times
88
Number of countries competing in Sochi 2014 SOURCE: bbc
200
Number of miles of new road built in Sochi for Sochi 2014. SOURCE: buzzfeed
15
Amount, in millions, that the local governor spent on a helicopter for himself out of the Sochi 2014 budget. source: bbc
5
Number of countries’ Olympic Committees that received letters threatening a terrorist attack. Officials have dismissed these as hoaxes. SOURCE: bbc
37,000
Number of extra troops and police brought in from Moscow to provide security. source: radio free europe
ASWC Senate Minutes 1/26 Ratified Japanese Cooking Club by a vote of 16-0-2. Passed request from ASWC for $3,550. Passed request from the Outdoor Program for $1,191 for a ski bus. Passed request from blue moon for $1,920 to attend the Associated Writers and Writing Organizations Conference.