Group vows to do voter registration drive

The young women plan to launch a drive in the city.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Six city high school students who went on a historical trip to Southern focal points of the 1950s and 1960s civil-rights movement came home vowing to be active agents for change and to give back to their community.
True to their word, the group already is planning a voter registration drive, the type of activity that figured heavily in the battle for civil rights in this country.
Giving back to your community after completing the 10-day trip is a key message of "Sojourn to the Past," an educational journey for high school students that takes them to historic civil-rights sites and allows them to meet some of the people who played major roles in the movement.
The six young women from Youngstown plan to launch a voter registration drive among the city's young people, starting in the city high schools and local civic and social organizations.
"We have the groundwork for it," said Rukiya Fleming, a junior at Chaney High School, although a kickoff date hasn't been set.
A tour and more
The local students joined others from New York and California for the March trip, which they all agreed was much more than just a tour.
They had to do homework on the sites and people they would see to prepare for the trip and had more homework to do on each day of the journey, including writing a letter to each of the speakers they heard, said teacher Penny Wells, who organized and led the Youngstown group.
The journey focused on nonviolence and tolerance, and all of the students came home with a message that is special to them.
Mallory Kimble, a freshman at Chaney, said she learned "that one person can made a difference."
For Kyonia Johnson, a Rayen School sophomore, it was, "Be grateful for what you have, never take anything for granted."
Candace Okello, a Chaney senior, said, "The importance of taking a stand, of having a dream" impressed her.
"The importance of voting" impressed Jasamine Driskell, a junior at Wilson High School.
"Putting your anger into something positive," is the message Rukiya brought home.
For Niya Merriweather, a freshman at Youngstown Early College, she learned it is important "to not be a silent witness."
Met former student
The group got to meet with Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Little Rock 9, and one of the first black students to desegregate schools there in 1957.
Eckford told them that she had been befriended at the school by only two people who were willing to step up and take that risk.
"That's what I want to be," Niya said.
Rukiya said the most memorable person she met on the sojourn was U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, a former chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee who was arrested more than 40 times in the fight for justice and equality
Those making the trip had to read and study his book about those times.
"He was someone I really wanted to meet," she said.
Jasamine said her most memorable part of the journey was getting to meet the people they studied about before they left Youngstown.
What they took with them
For Kyonia, it was "visiting the sights where events actually took place," especially the 16th Street Baptist Church in Alabama were four little girls died in a bombing in 1963.
"You could just feel like they were there," Kyonia recalled.
Mallory said the trip to the former Lorraine Motel, now the National Civil Rights Museum, where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., was her most vivid memory.
"When we all gathered around the last day and everybody discussed how the trip had changed them" was what struck her the most, said Niya.
Candace said it was "just walking in the footsteps of those who made a difference and took a stand" that has had a lasting influence on her.
All the young women said the sojourn was well worth the time and effort they had to put into it, and all said they would go again without any hesitation.
Several said they've been talking about it with their friends since they came back, and there is a lot of interest being generated for another trip.
gwin@vindy.com