Posted on 06/26/2002 8:57:50 PM PDT by stainlessbanner
GETTYSBURG, Pa. -- The sight struck Barb Adkins immediately and personally.
"There were Confederate flags everywhere around here," she said. "I was totally offended because of what they did to my people," she said, referring to slavery supporters who used the still-controversial flag as a symbol of the South during the Civil War.
Adkins, community affairs specialist for the city of Bloomington, is providing diversity training here for a group of about 40 students from Tri-Valley Middle School, Parkside Junior High School and the Boys and Girls Club of Bloomington-Normal.
The students come from different communities and bring with them different backgrounds and experiences. Organizers of the Gettysburg Diversity Project hope the trip that ends today brings them together to learn about each other and apply the lessons of history to their own lives.
As the group walked around Gettysburg, U.S. and Confederate symbols in every shape and size could be found in exhibits and gift shops.
And when Adkins, who is black, saw Confederate flag necklaces being worn by several students Friday, she saw an opportunity for education.
Unsure how to approach the situation, she spoke with Downs Mayor Jeff Schwartz, who initiated plans for the trip more than a year ago.
Adkins said she did not want anyone to tell the students to remove the necklaces, but wondered if they knew of the flag's significance. Schwartz spoke to the boys, who said they thought the flag was a British symbol at first.
"I essentially asked them to think through the potential consequences of wearing a necklace that had the Confederate flag on it," he said, explaining that the boys then decided on their own to take them off.
They soon approached Adkins and handed her the necklaces, saying they no longer wanted them.
As she told the story to the larger group that night, Adkins choked back tears.
"Just that quickly, they understood the significance of that and wanted no part of it," she said.
Turning points
That same night, teacher Crystal South-Law also spoke emotionally, urging the group to not take what they have for granted. She was concerned that some students did not realize the importance of the Civil War, or the pivotal battle at Gettysburg.
"These men gave their lives for ideas, for many of us to have the freedoms we continue to have today," said South-Law, who will teach at Bloomington Junior High School in the fall.
The message hit home.
"I understand why these guys put their lives on the line to make things right," said PJHS student Ben Bachman.
That understanding came from visiting the battlefield, hearing accounts and walking the streets soldiers walked. Even 140 years later, many buildings are still marked by the three-day battle.
"It helps you really get the feeling of history, actually seeing it rather than reading it in a book," said Montaye Phifer-Clark, also a PJHS student. "Just to be standing in the middle of the battlefield, you really feel part of the war."
Although Ben and Montaye are classmates, it took traveling here to solidify their friendship.
Montaye, who is black, acknowledged he did not have any white friends before the trip. He and Ben, who is white, spent much of their stay in Gettysburg together.
"I found out they can be cool," said Montaye. "We can be really good friends."
He also appreciated the open dialogue during the diversity training. "It was better they let it out rather than keep it in," he said.
Some friendships were made early on when the group began its journey Wednesday. An overnight train ride of more than 15 hours brought them to Pennsylvania. The group departed Sunday and will return today.
Tri-Valley student Liz Sparks wishes her school was more diverse. She thinks increased development around rural Downs will eventually bring that diversity, but wonders how some residents will react.
She said the trip was a valuable experience. "I learned a lot," she said. "I still had some stereotypes just because I haven't been introduced to a lot of different cultures."
Speaking out
The formal diversity training concluded Saturday night.
Students and adults first formed smaller groups built around one characteristic they all shared, such as age, race, religion, height, or common interests, such as music, sports and electronics.
Each caucus discussed what they never again want people to say, think or do toward their group and what they want people to know about their group. For instance, a caucus that focused on music stressed that band is not for "nerds" or only girls.
The last exercise was called "speak-outs." Several people shared experiences in which they have been mistreated and described how they handled it.
Adkins said the impact of mistreatment is often recognized more readily through personal stories.
One student did not have to reach far into her memory; she spoke about a derogatory remark made toward her earlier that day.
Adkins reminded the group to remember the story when they witness similar behavior and to leave their own comfort zones to stop it.
"I am not here to try to change your minds," she said. "I'm here to change your heart."
Evelyn Young, executive director of the Boys and Girls Club, described growing up with a white stepfather during the late 1960s in Nebraska.
"The black children in the neighborhood teased us because we had a white stepfather," she said. "The whites as well discriminated against us because they didn't feel it was right for a white man to marry a black woman."
Young said she wondered why other parents allowed their children to say such things.
She encouraged the students to ask questions when they are uncomfortable in a situation.
Gary Hinegardner, a Downs trustee and pastor of Kickapoo Creek Christian Church in Downs, spoke last. He urged the group not to repeat mistakes of the past, but to look ahead.
"It's got to stop here and it's got to stop now," said Hinegardner, a trip organizer. "You just have to forget about the past and go into the future.
"It's time we tear down the walls and it's time we build relationships with each other."
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Me too.
"There were Confederate flags everywhere around here," she said. "I was totally offended because of what they did to my people."
Ooooh, those bad flags. In Pennsylvania too.
Unless it's one of those PC textbooks that has deleted the civil war and the whole question of state's rights!
no, in that case ma'am, you should be even more offended by African and British flags, since they did it first, and Africa is still doing it. Perhaps you would be happier if we'd left y'all over there, and you could attempt to escape from whatever slave camp your african friends had sold you to? Or attempt to find enough to eat perhaps? Or attempt to spout your nonsense in the oh so free world of African politics.
She's too dumb to realize that the Stars And Bars really was the Flag Of Freedom for blacks like her lucky enough to have had her ancestors brought here as slaves.
Junior High students don't "understand the importance of the Civil War" without going on on a field trip to Gettysburg? What in the world do these kids do all day? Perhaps if they spent a little less time in "diversity training" and "speak-outs"...
I've worked in San Francisco for the last 15 years. This is a place we're told where people of all cultures and walks of life live together in peace and harmony. I can tell you for a fact that that is far from the truth. There is a reason why this is such an extraordinarly dysfunctional place. Because underneath that fairly placid surface is a world where everyone dislikes everyone else. The Hispanics dislike the Chinese, The Chinese dislike the Japanese, The Philipinos dislike the blacks and so on. It is without a doubt the most fragmented, balkanized place in the world.
For thirty or more years the liberals have been crowing about how racist everyone is in this country because there are few places where people of all kinds live together by choice in harmony. That's human nature folks and all the diversity training and social engineering in the world isn't going to change that.
When mankind screws itself silly into that olive skinned race that the geneticists refer to and the differances between us are minimal is the day we will all get along.
How much you wanna bet that the two boys talked about in the story above do not remain close friends after this is all over. It would be nice to believe but not likely.
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