Day 22 - Rachel

We began today with visiting the Loraine Hotel in Memphis Tennessee. The Hotel is current a museum/ memorial for Dr. Martin Luther King because it was the place of his death. First, we watched a movie about King’s uprising in the civil rights movement and afterwards we got a chance to speak with good friend Rev. Billy Kyles. Rev. Kyles was present at the Loraine hotel with Dr.King when he was shot and killed. Kyles was an excellent speaker and gave inspiration to keep pushing forward and take advantage of the way that has been paved for us through Dr.King’s work. Afterwards we received a chance to visit the rest of the museum. The hotel contained information about the progression of African American History from 1664 till Dr.Kings death. There was a section hotel that was made into an exact replica of what Dr. King’s hotel room looked like that night he was killed. That was an extremely empowering to see because it let you actually feel the history happening. Later we had our last speaker, Mr. Harry Samuels who wrote a spectacular book with over 200 short stories about fate, destiny, and synchronicity. His book contained stories about meaningful coincidences that have benefitted others lives. He was extremely interesting and a fantastic way to end our trip!

Day 21 - Brandon

On day 21 we began our day meeting a woman by the name of Sybil Jackson Hampton. She was one of the few black students to desegregate Central High School in Little Rock. She and four other class mates went to the school after the famous Little Rock 9, and we learned they had a very different experience than the Little Rock 9. The Little Rock 9 was verbally abused and the 5 that went with her were just shunned by everyone. Our next stop was at the Clinton Library. We all learned that Bill’s original last name was Blithe and changed it to Clinton because his step father’s last name was Clinton and Bill admired him so much that he took his name. Also his presidential platform was to change our nation’s international face. For lunch we went to River Market and all ate at different places. I had two pizzas and a slushie (if you were curious). Our last stop of the day was at Mosaic Templars Cultural Center where we learned about the 9th street business market where there were all stores owned by blacks.

Day 20 - Kendall

On Day 20 of the Cultural Leadership Class 6 journey, we departed Tallahatchie flats. Staying in the old sharecropping cabin was a unique experience, although many of my classmates and I have mosquito bites as small souvenirs from our stay. After a quick breakfast we met with the Cleveland Youth Council and Margaret Block-- a civil right activist and singer/poet. Here we did several fun “ice breakers” to get to know each member of the Cleveland Youth Council and were able to mingle. Also, Ms. Block led us in a few Freedom Songs, which are a rich part of Black Culture and the Civil Rights Movement. We also met with the Little Rock Nine Leadership Group for discussion and a pizza dinner. Having the opportunity to create new allies and reach out to other students became a theme of Day 20. Much of our time was spent talking with other students about problems we see in our communities and how we both as members of our respective groups and as individuals can make a difference.

Day 19 - Jarvis

Yesterday was a interesting day for all of us. Everyone had Tallahatchie Flats, the place of shelter for the night. The wakeup call was for 7:30 and we had to be on the bus by 8:30. I believe everyone made it. Then we were off to church. It was a small Methodist church with a big voice. Everyone was welcoming and the sermon was well received. We had lunch at the church and it was like thanksgiving dinner. After lunch we traveled on a guided tour of greenwood, Mississippi that was greatly needed because most of us never toured a rural area before. After the tour we dined at a historic restaurant and had numerous of speakers from around town. My favorite of those was the city councilman because he agreed to help cultural leadership place a historic marker in front of the store where Emit Till supposedly whistled at a white women. The day concluded with beautiful Tallahatchie Flats, which was an old sharecropper’s home. It was nice quiet and to stars and moon was vivid. I don’t know about everyone else but I enjoyed my stay.

An Insight From Jake

There have been times on this trip that I’ve wanted to go home. It’s not easy to leave home for 23 days and embark on this kind of journey. A lot of these speakers bring up the same issues and it feels like we’re learning the same lessons over and over again. Living with no privacy for 23 days inevitably results in frequent arguments and “storms.” People have said things they shouldn’t have said, myself included. I have learned from this trip to watch what I say and choose my words more carefully. I have learned not to judge people, rather to accept and look for the good in people. This is something I didn’t understand before Cultural Leadership. Behind all this madness, however, is reason. As I look through my notebook and at pictures, I’ve realized how much we’ve learned. Beyond the knowledge that we’ve gained, we have learned so much about ourselves. Learning about myself was the most important thing to me on this trip. So yes, it’s been hot, we’ve been jam-packed with speakers, and there has been arguments. This trip is not perfect. But behind all this madness is reason. As we near the end of our journey, I’m starting to realize how much we have learned. For me, maybe it just takes a little longer to sync in and realize how fortunate I am to be a part of this program. When I get home, there will be many things that I will miss about this entire experience. I am so glad I had this opportunity, and though I didn’t know what I was getting myself into—I would do it all over again in a second. Thank you.

Day 18 - DeVante

Today we were in Jackson, Mississippi. Being in this city was a little different from the rest because they were under a boil water order. With this you can’t drink the water or clean the dishes with the water because the water could possibly be contaminated. Sounds fun right…..NOT!!! The fact that we couldn’t use the water made it more difficult for staying at the hotels and also eating at restaurants for example when we went to IHOP we had to eat on plastic plates, forks, and spoons. Enough about that lets get to the wonderful speakers.

The first speaker was Danna Lad she has always been an advocate for civil rights, and also is a writer for the Jackson Free Press this newspaper publication deals with diversity whether it be with the staff, the readers, and the ownership. Something that struck me about Danna was the fact that she is so passionate about fighting for everyone to have equal rights especially young people since we as teenagers face ageism in our community.

The second speaker that we had the honor of meeting was Owen Brooks. Owen Brooks was a civil rights activist who moved from Boston, MA to Jackson, MI. Though Boston was supposed to be this integrated city were everyone was accepted it truly was not. Before moving to Jackson he was very involved in Civil Rights Movement in Boston. Unfortunately he was drafted in the U.S. Army, and fought in the Korea, but was discharged in 1953. What Mr. Brooks taught me was that it doesn’t matter what age you are you can still make a difference in your community.In conclusion these two speakers weren’t necessarily my favorite speakers they still gave me good key points on what to do as a teenager to make a difference.

Day 17 - Trevor

Day 17 started off with a seven o’clock wake up and a forty minute drive to Selma, Alabama. When we arrived in Selma we were taken to the Interpretive Center, this center revolves around the March in Selma for voting rights that many people in the Civil Rights Movement were involved in. At the center we watched a powerful movie about the incredible march and the people who were in this amazing feat.
As we drove deeper and deeper into Selma we came across the incredible Edmond Pettis Bridge, not far from the bridge we went to a moving museum about the incredible Civil Rights workers, our speaker told us of the many people who are never named. These are not the Martin Luther King’s, or the Rosa Park’s these are not people in history books. They all still have a story however; everyone involved in the movement has a story.

From this amazing museum we came to the peak of our day, the Slavery and Civil War Museum in Selma, Alabama is one of the greatest museums that I have ever been to. When we arrived in front of the museum we all heard a yell and the males were taken from the bus and then the females. When we were taken off of the bus we were then inspected. We were inspected because from that point on we would be truly entranced in the Middle passage and the slave trade. After being inspected we were sent inside the museum. We were sent into a pitch black room and locked in there for about 5 minutes. While standing there we began to hear screams followed by sniffles of fear from our classmates. Next we boarded the ship. That was my breaking point. Hot tears of fear and anger streamed down my face. I couldn’t understand why people were treated this way because of the color of their skin. As we went through the experiment I couldn’t help but imagine that the pain I am feeling now is not half of what the slaves who experienced these atrocities actually went through.
When we left the museum we drove to the infamous Edmond Pettis Bridge. We all know of the atrocities that happened here on Bloody Sunday decades ago. We were each paired up, an African American student with a Jewish one and we marched across the bridge arm and arm as Jeffrey sang a Freedom Song. As we walked I couldn’t help but think of all of those who had come before me and were beaten just for their right to vote. This was truly a powerful and moving moment for all of us.

The last thing of this very long and draining day was Mishkan Isreal, the only and oldest Jewish Synagogue in Selma, Alabama. Here we were told the story of the Southern Jews and the story of this famous Synagogue. Our speaker told us about the importance of this national monument in the Jewish community of Selma, Alabama. This Synagogues oldest member was eighty-nine years old and their youngest was fifty –nine. This means that this Synagogue will soon come to an end if they do not receive help. The Jewish community of Selma needs the help of as many people as they can get. We have to come together to make sure that this beautiful synagogue is not taken away from this amazing community.

This day was one the hardest days for me on this twenty three day journey. We experienced the life of slaves, walked the infamous bridge of Bloody Sunday, and went to a historic monument for the Jewish people in Selma, Alabama. Through all of this we came out stronger and better people, we can never experience the exact pain of what our ancestors went through. We

Day 16 - Jeffrey

Day 16 started with a 33-mile trip to Tuskegee so that we could view the George Washington Carver Museum. It was so exciting to see all the artifacts that were actually used by this wonderfully brilliant man. We also got the chance to visit and explore the home of Booker T. Washington. After that we took a ride to see the airfield of the Tuskegee Airman. In the hanger of the airfield, this was made into a museum dedicated to them. To make the day even better, we finally had a chance to meet Mr. Fred Gray, the attorney who changed the civil rights movement.
He was an attorney for Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. and many others. He still practices law until this very day, and if I had a civil or human rights case I would want him as my lawyer. We finished off the day with a visit to the Shiloh Rosenwald School and the church that reconstructed it. It was one of the first of the Rosenwald schools to be put on the list to be fixed up to be a historic site. I really felt as though the day was interesting and filled with historic facts that I had never knew about.

Day 15 - Helen

Montgomery, Alabama

We started the day at the Southern Poverty Law Center, where we stood around the Civil Rights Memorial, a beautiful black marble sculpture, round, with the names of important people who had died or events during the civil rights movement. Water circulated over the sculpture, running down the sides to the base. We stood in a circle, running our fingers through the water as we walked around it. We heard three speakers at the center, which tracks hate groups. I think the most shocking thing we learned was the abundance and horrific actions of hate groups. We were given magazines with a map of all the hate groups in the U.S., what type they are, and how many are in each state. We were all surprised that Missouri has one of the highest numbers of all the states.

The Foundation for Moral Law made almost everyone mad. First they stated that although minorities have rights that cannot be taken away, the majority has power over them. Then they explained how religious people are moral because they are taught moral values more than people who are not religious. As the executive director explained, “religion plays a very important role in society because it makes people responsible.” If anyone wasn’t already a little irritated, he seemed to suggest that religion should be a part of the government because it is a part of the people and makes up society, along with saving people eternally. He gave an example of some of the work the foundation does by explaining a case where a woman was not allowed to say “have a blessed day” in her emails because of religion in the workplace, and they believed she should be able to. Karen warned us that the foundation would anger us. Being a fairly calm person, I did not expect to be very angry. However, after he explained his position on gay rights, I was fuming. First he explained how marriage between gay people is unnatural and therefore would be a special right. Then he related gay marriage to polygamy. Being a gay rights activist, I almost shut down at that moment. However, I managed to keep my mind open throughout the rest of the presentation. I realized how Cultural Leadership has truly affected me. Before this program, I would have never even been able to keep taking notes, much less listen to what they had to say. This experience taught me a lot about keeping an open mind and listening with the intent to learn, no matter what the conditions.

Next we visited the Rosa Parks Museum, where speaker Georgette Norman gave an amazing presentation. Afterwards, we wrote mock speeches to practice for the speeches we give when we get home. We Drove by the Greyhound Bus Center but did not go in. We also saw a confederate flag. We also got to see Holy Street Baptist Church. We walked around the side and could peer inside the church from a window. At the National Center for Civil Rights, we toured a beautiful art gallery that had fantastic paintings. After studying a painting of a black military man carrying a white injured man on his back with a tree and lunch counter in the background, Zack and I had a long argument/discussion about art theory, warm and cold colors, and subsequent events in art. We continued analyzing the art on the way to dinner with Zoe. It was a good hour of us talking over each other, trying to express ourselves without sounding crazy. That night, we split up into two groups and read our speeches. Through “praise and polish” our peers commented o help us improve. It was very productive and helped us all to practice.

Day 14 - Zoe

As I look out of the window of my hotel room I can see a balcony across the courtyard. In this moment, the metal slats running up the sides are an eerie reminder of pictures of the motel in Memphis where, not so many years ago, someone killed the preacher from Atlanta who changed the course of history enough that he allowed me to live in this moment.

Two things seem apparent to me as I sit alone in my room.
One - That whoever it was that really killed Dr. King, they were more than a few cards short of a deck. Pretty basic, pretty obvious, right? What I mean is that the person who shot the preacher with a dream didn’t realize that dreams aren’t like blood. The words and ideas of Dr. King did not drip to the pavement below like his blood did, they did not cease to flow from the mouths of freedom fighters like the blood ceased to flow through his veins. Ideas are both more fluid and less fluid than blood. They are able to be passed down, move like sinuous lines of consciousness through generations of people, decades of changing places and families. However, when the great thinker of ideas dies or is martyred, ideas solidify, they stop changing form as they do in a curious mind. Anyway, food for thought.

Two – When we were processing tonight, I decided to draw instead of write. Now, I am no sketch artist, it was not fantastic, merely functional. I drew a tree – it stands on a firm base but the trunk leans steeply to one side, and it reads “every single night the same arrangement.” On the leaves it reads “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to change, its not”. In the bottom left hand corner a sun shines up onto the trunk. Inside the sun it reads “’that the sins of a dark yesterday will be redeemed in the achievements of a bright tomorrow’”. Next to the tree, a pathetic excuse for a paperclip drawing reads “all of the strength and all of the courage”. So what do I mean by all this nonsense? I don’t know if you guys caught it, but I referenced Dr. Suess, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sarah McLachlan, and Martin Luther King jr in one drawing, because that’s how I do things (mixing my references: historical, pop cultural and… children’s literature-al?). Regardless, here’s what it all means. The tree is our country – it stands on a firm base of ideals (the Constitution/ Bill of Rights) but throughout history we as a nation spent much of our time disregarding our own beliefs (in particular regard to Native, African, and Japanese – Americans (at least that come to mind right now)) which is why the tree leans. The quote reflects what a foot soldier from the Children’s Marches told us today- that the more things change, the more they stay the same. The Lorax quote at the top (besides going great with trees) reflects the need for people to stand against injustice no matter how small, because if they don’t it will continue. The MLK quote in the sun, and the beams of the sun pushing against the tree mean a couple of things to me. As a member of many privileged groups, I carry around the history of oppression people like me have done to people who were like some of my friends. I cannot ignore these injustices or past oppressions or they might happen again. What I can do to keep myself from falling into guilt is to look to a “brighter tomorrow” to redeem the “sins of a dark yesterday.” All (haha, all, like it’s a small task) I have to do is create the “brighter tomorrow.” The sun beams against the tree aren’t strong (they are only made of light after all) but they symbolize the slow incremental change needed to straighten the tree out. The paperclip, worn as a symbol of resistance by anti-Nazi Norwegians salutes the fact that standing up takes great strength and courage. The full line from the song is “all of the strength and all of the courage come and lift me from this place. I know I can love you much better than this, oh my love, full of grace.” That whole thing would not fit on my tiny paperclip, but to me it says something really important, that we could all love each other better than we do right now, but it will take us strength and courage to get there.

I would like to make one final point before I take my long-awaited shower:
The tree cannot be retroactively straightened. That is, if the sunbeams (that’s us guys ) succeed, it will only be in straightening the future growth. The “sins of a dark yesterday” will always be with us, and we must always remember them. However, the work we do should help redeem them in the long-awaited “brighter tomorrow.”
Adios, amigos.

Day 13 - Jessica

Let me start with the low-lights. I’m sick. Now, for the hightlights. :D
Today was the day I’ve been waiting for (other than yesterday) – the Paper Clips Exhibit!!!! :D he ride was long, but beautiful. I’ve never seen such a scene. And what do I mean? One word: Greenery. What are trees; what are bushes? As a city-zen (aha…get it?), it’s definitely a rare sight. On our way to Whitwell, Tennessee, we watched the Paperclips documentary, which I did not want to watch because I had watched it already the weekend before we left St. Louis. But I had to, anyway, just like everyone else. And, soon after, we arrived at Whitwell Middle School.
When we arrived, I learned that the formal name of the Whitwell exhibit was actually the Paper Clips Project, or the Children’s Holocaust Memorial. I didn’t “feel the souls” at first. I didn’t feel anything. But after we were there for a while, I started to be able to really “feel” the souls of the paper clips, just like it said in the documentary. Ricky, our guide, was adorable. He made me wonder if every Whitwell eighth grader looked like him because I looked considerably older than him when I was his age.
When we met Principal Hooper, I was SO excited. I shook her hand and told her, “I’ve been waiting to come here since the first day! I’m SO excited (sorry for the redundancy)!” But I don’t think she understood just how excited I actually was.
The binders full of letters were really great, too. I didn’t get to write about the letter that I read, but it was really intense. I felt the pain of the paper clips that were dedicated again.
And now, Birmingham. Are there really any appropriate words or adjectives to describe the brilliance of Birmingham? Our speaker was Doug Jones. The fact that I remember his name is significant because his name isn’t even in the travel book and I didn’t look in my note book. Or someone else’s. He talked about the case of the four female children who were killed in the 16th Baptism Church bombing. It had been a cold case for about 30 years, but then they (sorry, I don’t remember who “they” is) decided to pick it back up and solve it. The outcome was that the case had been solved, but they hadn’t had it approved by a court judge or something like that, so they couldn’t put an exact “case closed” date on it. Today was the first time we had him as a speaker and everyone seems to agree that he was TERIFFIC!

Day 12 - Tyler

First full day in hotlanta!! We did some very interesting things. Before I continue I feel the need to share a poem. Roses are red, violets are blue, a lot happened today and I am going to tell you. Upon waking up I was completely surprised to see a wonderful breakfast of muffins and cereal. YUMMMMMYYYY!!! Then we headed to the Breman Jewish Heritage Museum. There were three galleries available that day, one on the Jewish history in Atlanta, one on the Holocaust, and the last one on the political images produced by Theodore Giesil better known as Dr. Seuss. We found out that Georgia, home of the peach-tree, doesn’t grow peaches. Apparently when the English arrived to Georgia they asked the Native American how to get to Savannah. The native Americans replied with “follow the pitch tree trail.” Well, like typical British settlers, they assumed that the Native Americans mis-pronounced their own language, and meant to say “peach-tree.” After the Breman Museum we went to the Carter Museum, learning about the difference Jimmy Carter and his wife made before during and after his presidency. To be continued…..

Day 11 - Julisa

3:oo am in the morning…that was the time I was suppose to wake up. But I needed a least 5 more minutes, so I hit the snooze button. 3:05, I dragged myself out of bed to get ready. As I joined my cultural leadership family in the lobby we all seemed to have the same expressions..dull…tired…not enthusiastic what so ever. I took a seat in the first shuttle, with my group Brandon, Juliana, Drew, Erin, Helen and our trip leader Maayan. I couldn’t seem to understand why the heck was she so perky and cheery…was it coffee? Red bull? Any form of caffeine perhaps?? But then it suddenly came to me, even though I was tired, sleepy, and slightly irritated, I had to remember it’s not where I am but where I’m going. In Atlanta we were going to experience the civil rights movement up close and personal. As well as visit places like Ebenezer Baptist church, which Martain Luther King will be remembered forever. The trip so far has been incredible and I feel very thankful to have this opportunity. As for right now…HELLO ATLANTA!!!

Day 10 - Zack

This morning before the speaker was the greatest morning in the history of Cultural Leadership, we got coffee. At 8: 30 in the morning a surprisingly large group of us made an overly enthusiastic trip to the starbucks 5 blocks away from the hostel. The caffeination was a great start to an absolutely fantastic and enlightening day of speakers and destinations.

Our first speaker of the day was Colman McCarthy a renowned teacher, author, and journalist for the Washington Post. He is best known for being a raging and extreme pacifist (oxymoron intended), who started courses in peace making and conflict resolution within innercity DC schools. His views on contemporary education are opinions that I wish could be held by public school boards across the nation. He believes that arduous exams, uninspired essays, and mountains of homework should be labeled as forms of academic violence (I concur!) But by far the most inspiring portion of his lecture was his defense of peace, it was one of the most (if not the most) inspiring speeches that I have heard on the trip so far. He believes that if war was a worthy solution to conflict “it would have been successful eons ago.” As history shows violence has never solved any problems in the way that conflict resolution does. I felt that as a group we were radicalized to fight in order to end war in our country and around the world.

After or talk with the amazing Colman McCarthy we had to book it to the Masjid. When we arrived at the Masjid in our cab and the driver realized where we were he refused to accept our money for the ride and in return only asked that we pray for him, this shows how truly holy and important our destination was. It was my first time at a Masjid and even though I didn’t have a stereotypical visit in mind, my expectations were blown out of the water. Upon entering the temple we were not met with kindness, we were met with love and admiration from everyone that was in attendance. I sat down at a table next to my buddy Julisa and a woman turned to us and began speaking about how we should try to live our lives, she spoke to us for almost an hour and gave advice that rivaled advice of clergymen that we had met before on the trip. She never once prosletized, she only spoke of her own supreme belief that jews, Christians, and muslims should live together in peace. The service itself was beautiful, the Imam spoke to the congregation about gender equality and how we need to ensure that women in the faith be educated as much as their male counterparts, it was no doubtebly a progressive masjid. At the end of the experience I couldn’t help but ask myself “if this is Islam how could anyone have a problem with it?” I really came to the realization that the islam that people have in mind is not at all the religion but instead the people who are enforcing the religion and dictating how the religion should be acted out.

Later we went to the heritage foundation where we listened to a lecture about entitlements and how they are destroying our country and we should fear them. We didn’t have enough time to ask all the questions we had for this conservative organization. Those that were asked were answered in a roundabout manner that left us really frustrated. We weren’t even given the luxury of disagreeing with their conservative values because they didn’t even tell us what their actual values were. FA-RUSTRATING!

Day 9 - Candace

Day 9 was indeed a tiring yet very interesting day. We woke up around 7 o’clock dressed in our best business clothes, ready for the adventures Capitol Hill would bring. Our first adventure was to Senator Kit Bond’s office. But do to transportation difficulties we were only able to take a picture with him and take a short tour of his office. This was quite a letdown but we realized that this is indeed Capitol Hill and there is always something to do. After that run thanks to incredible CL alum that is currently interning art Claire McCaskil’s office, we were able to receive tickets to visit the senate and the House of Representatives. This experience was very interesting we learned about how some of our government works and what the process is.

After that wonderful experience we were able to meet with the well-known John Lewis. John Lewis was indeed was a Civil Rights activist in his truest form. He grew up in rural Alabama outside the small city of Troy. Growing in the rural and Deep South he grew up seeing “Blacks Only” and “Whites Only” signs. Urged by his parents to be quiet and stay out of trouble, he directly disobeyed and went for to protect his rights as a human being. He became the leader of SNCC (The Student Nonviolent Coordinator) at the age 25 because he was so involved. He said without this offer he wouldn’t have been able to do half of things he did. He wouldn’t have been able to meet Martin Luther King and lead the march across the Edmund Pettis Bridge. Congressman John Lewis was truly inspirational and taught all of that anything is very possible.

After meeting with Congressman Lewis we met with our state senator Claire McCaskill, who spoke to us about the problems in our very own communities. We then met with the very famous Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She opened with a wonderful case that touched the very heart-strings of which Cultural Leadership is here. She spoke about a Caucasian man and an African American woman who got married in Virginia but lived in DC, their marriage was not recognized in the DC community. They fought for the opportunity to be recognized as an actual couple and won. We had many questions for justice Ginsburg but she did her best to stay diplomatic with many answers. We ended the day with dinner at DC’s Union Station or either ChinaTown.

Day 8 - Part 2 - Insight from a trip leader (Maayan)

Cultural Leadership Class 6 is a phenomenal group of students. Every individual brings insight, intellect, and creativity to our conversations with speakers and processing meetings. As a member of Class 1 I have been thoroughly impressed by the general maturity of this group and their ability to develop thought provoking and probing questions for our speakers and for their peers which definitely compete with those of my own class.

Though they have been tired, thirsty, hungry, and even cranky at times, this is a solid group of students who are visibly growing, changing, and developing every single day. Thus far, it has been an honor and a pleasure to work with these students. Thanks to all the parents who have lent them to us for these three weeks.

Day 8 - Erin

Today, around 7 in the morning, groans were heard all throughout the hostel. 7 speakers is a lot, and to be honest, most of us were not looking forward to it. Surprisingly, it turned out to be an amazing day filled with some of the most passionate change agents. Although we hadn't heard of many, they were inspiring and a joy to see.

Our first speaker as Rabbi Kahn. Rabbi Kahn is active in the Equal Rights Center. From him, we learned about minority communities that are often overlooked such as victims of domestic abuse and those with disabilities. From him, we also learned the skills to turn instances of discrimination into a sound and just lawsuit. Our second speaker was Scott Rechler who is an Operation Understanding D.C. graduate. He used interactive techniques to teach us how to start up our own organization and how to be social entrepreneurs. His presentation also required us to examine the issues that we are passionate about, which was extremely helpful as we have been hearing about many MANY issues.Then we heard from C.R. Gibbs who is an expert on African history. His message about the history of those of African descent was mind blowing. It taught me that Africans were venturing into the world and making great strides long before the slave trade began and it amazing how much that history has been skewed.

After that, we switched locals and arrived at Dupont Circle. There Ruth Cogen spoke to us about fund-raising, which I found EXTREMELY helpful. after that, Rabbi David Saperstein talking to us about his Jewish lobbying activities. Then, we learned about the Alliance for Justice which is a group that focuses on civil rights issues such as torture. Our final speakers were Chris Myers Asch and Erica Seager Ash who spoke with us about the proposed United States Public Service Academy. Finally, it was time for diner and our day was over. It was tiring, yet very informative.

Day 7 - Sonya

Today, the best day in the world (Sonya’s birthday), we went to the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. We split up into groups of ten and had personal tours through the museum. I was especially fortunate to have the opportunity to have a tour guide who spent his teenage years in a concentration camp.

The museum was very sad; it was terrible to see artifacts and hear the stories of the terrible things that happened to innocent people. The thing from the museum that had the most influence on me was the hair. There were pounds and pounds of human hair; seeing the hair made the pain the people murdered in the Holocaust felt more powerful.

After touring the museum, we ate lunch and spoke to Louise Lawrence-Isreals. She was a child during the Holocaust, and actually spent the first three years of her life hiding in an attic. We then processed outside and shared our feelings.
After processing, we spoke speakers who worked with STAND and fighting genocide. It was great talking with them. Many of us realized we did not know as much about genocide as we thought we did. Many of us also realized we wanted to do more in our community by spreading the word about modern day genocide.
We then got to do a little sight-seeing in Washington D.C. We saw the Washington, Lincoln, and Vietnam Memorial. We also had a delicious meal at Heidi’s Deli. Everyone is doing well and loving the trip. We will keep you posted.
Xoxo CL Class 6

Day 6 - Reiko

On to more exciting things for today’s journey. First stop today, the home of Mr.Taylor Branch. Mr. Branch was a personal diarist for President Bill Clinton, and he is also a guru about the civil rights movement as well. In fact, he is one of the leading experts in the area of civil rights. He spoke of the secret meetings that he had with the former President and the many book he has written about them. He also went into detail about specific movements within the civil rights era. It was very welcoming to be in Mr.Branch’s house with him sharing his wisdom. The next stop was not so pleasant. We met with Mr. Micheal Casserly of the Greater Council of City Schools. The statistics they shared concerned the achievement gap specifically with African American males in public schools. Even though I am an African American female these statistics shocked and disturbed me greatly. As a public school student myself, I am faced with these statistics everyday and it really breaks my heart. Good thing for Cultural Leadership, right? lol.

Day 5 - Nate

On Sunday morning we woke up early and went to Abyssinian Baptist Church. Reverend Calvin Butts III would typically give a sermon, however, on this day a guest preacher delivered the sermon. After hearing thrilling selections from the Abyssinian Voices of Praise, we received a message on the importance of having a strong faith.

When the service was over, we were joined by New York State Supreme Court Judge, Randolph Jackson. Judge Jackson helped our trip leaders as we took a tour of Harlem, providing historical background for certain locations. We visited the historic Apollo Theater and the home of Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes.
When our tour was over, we returned to the House of Justice, hoe of the National Action Network, for our meeting with Reverend Al Sharpton. Sharpton explained that “social justice organizations are no longer needed when threat are gone. “ He continued connecting the civil rights movement of the 1960’s to the current civil rights movement. He said that “the movement of your parents was about freedom, the movement now is about equality.” With the inspirational word of Rev. Al Sharpton in our heads, we visited an Orthodox Jewish community called Crown Heights.

Our tour was lead by Rabbi Reid, an African American man who converted to Orthodox Judaism later in life. He showed us the community’s “mikvah” (a ritual bath for religious cleansing); a “Sopher” (a place where scribes make and fix torahs, mezuzahs, and teffilin; and a Lubavich synagogue. To end our day Rabbi Reid joined us for dinner, so we could continue learning about orthodox culture, and the his experiences in the community.

Day 4 - Juliana

Day Four in beautiful New York was a wee bit “hit or miss.” We started out the morning in Harlem, and as soon as we stepped off the train I was all, “Toto, I don’t think we’re in Manhattan anymore.” Cheesy I know, but that’s actually what popped into my head. I was greatly looking forward to having new experiences in a different part of town, one that had history and pizzazz.

After we walked for a few blocks we arrived at the National Action Network, Al Sharpton’s social mobilization organization. Personally, it was three hours of speeches that did not evoke much meaningful thought nor inspirational messages. Much of the discussion that morning pertained only to members of NAN, and overall I didn’t get a sense of what the organization stands for. But it’s ok – I just sat tight until after lunch when we met with Mr. Dabney Montgomery.

Mr. Montgomery’s truly inspirational story of being a Tuskegee Airman, fighting overseas, then returning home to Selma to face more discrimination was riveting. Not to mention, he’s the most adorable old man ever! Meeting with this historic figure was the perfect end to the morning.

Then, we headed towards the Schomburg center for Research in Black Culture which had exhibits pertaining to Africa, Africans in the Diaspora, African Religion, etc. After that we went to the Studio Museum which had some cool modern art pieces.
In Cultural Leadership fashion, the end of the day was not a time to take a break from learning. We ate a traditional Ethiopian meal at a family named Mazor’s house, and then we spoke with Ethiopian Jews about their experiences emigrating to Israel and eventually America.

Overall, day 4 was excellent and I’m very excited for the rest of the trip.

Day 3 - Jestin

Day three and complaints nowhere to be found. Walking through the streets anticipation grew as we went in to a room and got the five star treatments. Two speakers came in and inspired us with not only their words of wisdom, but also with things such as life, success, and completing our tasks. The first speaker Ed Koch was a former mayor in New York and taught us how to deal with issues that are both personal and true to what is going on right now and how to stand up for ourselves. The second leader named Letty Cotton Pogrebin taught us how important it is to fight for what believe in, and that in certain situations you can rise above the occasion and beat what the status quo believes you can be.

Walking to our second destination game was on! We walked through the streets of New York and worked out. The ADL or Anti Defamation League was a real eye opening. We learned about what the program does and how they operate. We also learned a lot about stereotyping and how to stop it before it comes up. Our lives and legs were both craving more fun.

After lunch we found ourselves headed towards Chinatown. New signs, and people graced us as we made our way to the oldest known synagogue in America. When leaving we headed towards the Tenement Museum. We enjoyed our hosts and their creative way of bringing us back two centuries really worked because now we actually could walk through a tenement and see the people who actually lived there. Our question “What is an American?” struck up many different ideas about who America really was. The conversation was nice and really showed where us were at ideas at the moment.
The final moment of the day was synagogue. B’nai Jeshrun was fun and creative at the same way. Dancing, singing, and fun interactive situations really added to what made the moment nice. All the males wore Kippahs/ Yamulkes and we really were thrown into the service. The best thing of service was the end. All of CL and the class leaders all went down to the front and reached arms around each other as the congregation sang and admired what our program did as a whole. It opened our eyes about how important this program is and how much we have to do to make sure that we do what was set forth for us to do.

The final walk back to the hostel was a long and tiring journey. Feet hurting, our mind was ready for pizza and relaxing. Another long day that changed our lives. We are yet learning….. Everyone’s well!

Day 2 - Drew

We woke up bright and early this morning, at 6:30 a.m. for some, to start off our wonderful day with the all-important breakfast. After finishing breakfast and congregating in front of the hostel, we began our subway transit to the CLAL, a program named for the Hebrew word for inclusive. Once there we had the pleasure and honor to meet Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, a brilliantly thoughtful man who not only challenged our perceptions of ourselves but more importantly our perceptions of true leadership. Rabbi Hirschfield said that, “the important choices in life are not between good and bad, the important choices in life are between good and good.” This single “pearl” (as Karen says) illustrates the true nature of a leader’s decisions, something that drastically stretched each of our minds. After finishing with the Rabbi, and after learning many other all-important “pearls” we left, and began our journey to the innocence project. This amazing program delivers justice to wrongly-convicted inmates on death’s row.

Then came another true experience of a lifetime. We had the tremendous privilege to meet with Russell Simmons and Rabbi Schneier, under the eye of the cameras, and talk about trans-racial dialogue. Both men were truly amazing people and had each, in their own way, contributed greatly to Black/Jew relations while furthering other equally important causes such as animal rights. After this enlightening experience we got to get free roam of Times Square! It was exhilarating seeing all the unbelievably diverse people, and talking with a few of them, learning all the time. Overall this day was definitely one we will remember for the rest of our lives, partially due to Russell Simmons and partially due to Times Square.

Day 1 - Akila

Everyone met at the St. Louis Lambert Airport at five forty five in the morning. After all the bags were checked in and everyone went through security, we waited until it was time for the plane to board. The plane started boarding at seven o’clock, all the students had to board y the order of his/her group. After boarding the plane, everyone one sat in his/her seat and waited anxiously for the plane to leave. Most of us could not wait on the plane to leave and ended up falling asleep before the plane took off. The plane left at seven thirty and arrived in New York at approximately ten thirty (Eastern Standard Time). Once we arrived in New York we all took separate cabs to our Hostel. The Hostel, which is on 103 and Amsterdam, was very nice. We ate lunch, went over the hostel rules, and began our way for the day’s activities.

Once we hit the streets, we received our metro passes and were told not to lose them because they cost 27 dollars. We walked to the subway and experienced life as “a tourist” in New York. After what seemed like a thousand subways and miles and miles of walking we arrived at New York Tolerance Center. Unfortunately our speaker, the president of Donors Choose, Charles Best, had to cancel so the vice president Thalia Theodore Washington spoke instead. She talked about the Donors Choose Program and what it does and the effect similar programs have on the community. Afterwards, we had a tour of the Simon Wiesenthal Tolerance Center which impacted all of us. Docent Andy Gold gave us the tour and explained in great depth the impact of hate and why there is s much hate in the world. I would like this reflection to end with a quote from the Tolerance center which says: “If I’m not for myself who am I… If I’m not for others who will be”- Talmudic Scripture

Three Weeks and Counting

Setting up the various communication opportunities for the Trip. Stay tuned for future postings.