When your sophomore son asks you to join him on a week-long field trip -- even if it's with about 100 other high school students from the Bay Area and beyond -- how else can you answer but, YES!?  He did and I did, and thus began a week-long Sojourn to the Past adventure. 

During President's week, we all found ourselves in Atlanta, Georgia to begin what was one of the most meaningful and exhausting experiences of my life.  As we traveled through Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and Arkansas, we met living civil rights legends both known and unknown. Representative John Lewis spent several hours sharing his decades of struggle, taking questions and patiently posing for photos with excited students in the basement of the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church.  Joann Bland and Lawrence "Coach" Huggins were our teachers and guides as we walked the streets of Selma, Alabama -- the heart of the Black voter registration campaign in the 1960s -- and accompanied our students as they walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. At each new location and during all the activities, I was inspired by the focus and respect our students showed. They completed writing assignments, they read, and they were prepared as they delved deep into the struggles of the '60s.

As we criss-crossed our way through the historic south on buses that provided our transportation, eyes heavy from late nights and early mornings, I listened to conversations shared by teenagers getting to know one another -- sometimes laughing and singing, sometimes crying, but through it all pondering the question: How can we bring the principles of social justice and non-violence into our own lives as we fight to end racism and discrimination in our schools and communities?

 

We are living in a time where some of the very same issues faced by the civil rights activists of the past are the burning issues of today: police brutality, the right to vote, the right to education.  Our communities are being rocked by forces who seek to divide, not unite us. But after this past week, I am confident our youth with their indomitable spirit are willing and able to step up to the challenge to build a better future. It will not be easy, and our students learned that this week, but nothing worthwhile ever comes without a struggle.

I was so proud to be in the company of the fine students and teachers that made up the Sojourn trip of February 2017, and I hope you can come to this Tuesday's PTSA meeting and hear from the students themselves about their adventures!

 

Happy March!