You say you want a revolution
Kelly Folkers
Issue date: 1/26/10 Section: Columns
I went on a community service trip this past winter break with Breakaway, which is an organization that sends groups of students to various parts of the country to participate in volunteering projects. My trip went to Memphis, Tenn., where we worked at Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center and learned about the American health care system.
On our free day, went to the National Civil Rights Museum, which was built next at the Lorraine Hotel where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968.
The museum is housed in a round, tan building, but the hotel's exterior looks exactly the same as it did in 1968 when King died. The same shade of light blue paint covers its walls and railing, and the brass numbers of room 306 where King stayed still hang on the door.
I learned at the museum that King came to Memphis to rally on behalf of African-American sanitation workers, who were on strike to combat discrimination in the workplace. His assassination occurred in a city plagued with racism and rioting, where a hefty price was placed on his head for any man who was willing to kill him.
The museum, filled with text about various aspects of the civil rights movement, has a section about the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which was founded by a handful of students at Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C. in 1960. These students at this one university spread a message of peace and understanding to other students across America, and by 1965, the SNCC was one of the largest civil rights organizations the country.
Student protest expanded even more after SNCC's successful protests and rallies, and students became some of the most influential voices in ending institutionalized discrimination.
While at the museum, I found myself drawing comparisons between the youth of the 1960s and today's college students. The young people of the 1960s sought change, and as evident from the 2008 presidential election, so many of us wanted change, too.
On our free day, went to the National Civil Rights Museum, which was built next at the Lorraine Hotel where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968.
The museum is housed in a round, tan building, but the hotel's exterior looks exactly the same as it did in 1968 when King died. The same shade of light blue paint covers its walls and railing, and the brass numbers of room 306 where King stayed still hang on the door.
I learned at the museum that King came to Memphis to rally on behalf of African-American sanitation workers, who were on strike to combat discrimination in the workplace. His assassination occurred in a city plagued with racism and rioting, where a hefty price was placed on his head for any man who was willing to kill him.
The museum, filled with text about various aspects of the civil rights movement, has a section about the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which was founded by a handful of students at Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C. in 1960. These students at this one university spread a message of peace and understanding to other students across America, and by 1965, the SNCC was one of the largest civil rights organizations the country.
Student protest expanded even more after SNCC's successful protests and rallies, and students became some of the most influential voices in ending institutionalized discrimination.
While at the museum, I found myself drawing comparisons between the youth of the 1960s and today's college students. The young people of the 1960s sought change, and as evident from the 2008 presidential election, so many of us wanted change, too.
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Holly Martineau
posted 1/27/10 @ 9:40 AM EST
Kelly, you are so right! It only takes one person. I hope you will take your passion and use it to help others see the need for a public option in Health Care. (Continued…)
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