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 Picture an image of the world. Think about all the
diversity found among the different people in the world. Recognize the fact that
the biggest genetic difference you have from anyone else is 2 percent. Two
percent is the cause war, psychological inferiority and hatred. At the same
time, 2 percent can be the remedy for peace in the world. Cultural Leadership is
a year-long program that trains high school students to become activists for
social justice. Over the course of a year, we met monthly for programming, had
three weekend retreats and went on a 3½-week summer transformational journey. In
the program, we learned knowledge and skills and gained allies needed to make
positive change in our communities. Cultural Leadership harbored my passion to
make change and, because of it, my life's work will be consumed with advocating
equality for all.
I came into this program a little hesitant but very
curious and excited to find out how to change the world. As Frederick Douglass
poignantly stated, "Knowledge simply increased my discontent for life." In other
words, the more one learns, the more anger, confusion, and passion one acquires.
At the same time, you should feel more inspired to bring about a lasting and
effective change to the world. I remember during one of the programs, Professor
Bradley, a SLU history professor, discussed the Brown vs. Board of Education
case. Even though I have heard it a hundred times before, that day I viewed it
through a completely different lens. Two of the psychologists during Linda
Brown's cross-examination performed something called the "Doll Test." The
psychologists gave her two dolls, one a Black doll and White doll, and a set of
questions to answer about both. After the test was administered, the White doll
was identified as the prettiest and more coveted of the two dolls, while the
Black doll was described as inadequate and inferior. This test had the biggest
affect on swaying the court to rule in favor of allowing schools to be
integrated. A separate but equal mentality is always inherently wrong. The
innocent eyes of a child are what it took for these men to stare racism in the
face and to realize that segregation is not just about what you can or cannot
do, it is mental.
 The mindset that Linda Brown carried on that day is
not too different from what I struggle with today. I attend Rosati-Kain,
all-girl, Catholic, predominately-white high school. I really struggle with the
fact that the only black people on staff are janitors and that I am the only
Black girl present in the majority of my classes. The blessing and burden of
being a member of my race is that no matter which direction I choose, I might
turn someone off. What I found through my experience at Cultural Leadership is
that the uncertainty of your position is fine. Though a person may never appease
the world, a person's actions, regardless of the amount of recognition or
support you receive, have the ability to change the world. While it is one thing
to learn about the many tenants of history, it is quite a different thing
experiencing it.
During the summer, we traveled for 3½ weeks to
various cities in the east southeast Unites States, including New York City,
Washington D.C., Atlanta, Birmingham, Selma, New Orleans, Little Rock and
Memphis. We visited sites of historical significance to issues of social justice
and civil rights. We also met with and learned from the incredible individuals
and groups who are working to bring about change in this country. What never
ceased to amazed me was the amazing resilience held by both African-American and
Jewish races. We visited the Slavery and Civil Rights Museum in Selma, Alabama.
I was completely overwhelmed by my emotions. I cried for nearly 15 minutes after
being dehumanized and humiliated, thrown in perhaps the most dark and smallest
confines imaginable, and told some of the most horrendous tactics utilized by
slave owners to keep our races divided and rebelling against one another. While
at the National Holocaust Museum, I experienced a similar feeling seeing all the
measures that Hitler and his regime used to turn an entire continent against one
group of people. It is mind-blowing knowing that someone's entire history and
culture were shunned and that they were even a reality. Part of the unsettling
sentiment was seeing all of the pictures and numerous artifacts, including a
railcar for used to transport prisoners to concentration camps. After seeing the
pictures of all the hair recovered and the numerous pairs of shoes, six million
Jews losing their lives was no longer a generic number. How much knowledge could
the world have gained had these people lived? Unfortunately, their potential for
greatness will never be fully conceived.
Despite these hardships, all the pain and hatred
never kept African-American and Jewish people down. Through this program, this
was one of the hardest concepts to grasp. The disparities among us are readily
seen. Look to your schools, media, and workplace. The disillusion that Frederick
Douglass spoke of becomes easier and easier to fall into each day. Their victory
is their survival. Their mere existence was sought to be abolished, but they
have defied the powers that be. They are here and in being present and bearing
witness to their ancestors' history through the lives they live today, that
legacy will never be lost.
While in New York we visited CLAL, The National
Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership. Rabbi Kula and Rabbi Hirschfield gave
us some great food for thought. They emphasized that we should never seek to
become a victim, because at the end of the day one will begin to compare whom is
the most victimized among you. Using a cause and effect lens to measure both
problems and progression, we can begin to see our effectiveness. For instance,
how it is so very easy to see Hitler as the beginning of a problem, but there
had to be billions of instances that allowed him to gain the power to do what he
did. All of the anti-Semitic attitudes that went unchecked made it that much
harder to counterattack. The same applies to slavery and the civil rights
movement. In digging deeper, the devalued sense of the Africans through the
perspective of social Darwinism held them back from being shown even the
slightest form of dignity. That same mentality being passed down to children
allows that power structure to stay the same.
On the contrary, progress takes a similar shape. It
takes people speaking up about things they view as wrong to take down those
deeply rooted structures of socialization from within all of us. Billions of
instances of people working away at what ever issues that are made manifest in
our lives, that's change. This is what it took for Letty Cottin Pogrebin,
founder of Ms. Magazine, to advocate for women's rights. This is what gave
Ernest Green, member of the Little Rock Nine, the strength to graduate from
Central High School. This is what allowed Andre Klesser, a Holocaust survivor,
the opportunity for an equal shot at life in America. This is what allowed
Claudette Covin to be the first Rosa Parks and to shoot down segregation on the
Montgomery bus lines. The connection between all of these people is they did
something where they did not wait for change to fall out the sky. They agitated
the powers that be until they got results. Whether it goes unknown or plastered
across every television screen in America, people can make change much more
apparent through their everyday actions. It starts with fighting those battles
that are small enough to win and big enough to matter. Where ever people's
passions lie, they have the ability to do something. It is necessary for us to
put that 2% into action.
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