Newseum honors U.S. student activism

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WASHINGTON―The two months since the tragic shooting in Parkland, FL, have been characterized by increased student activism. There was Emma González’s infamous “We call BS speech” at a gun control rally, the March for Our Lives, and the nationwide walkout on March 14. However, this is not the first time students have come together to combat a social issue plaguing the U.S.

The “Make Some Noise” exhibit at the Newseum highlights student leadership during the 1960s civil rights movement. In 1960, four college students protested “whites-only” seating at a lunch counter in Greensboro, NC, giving way to a sit-in of nearly a thousand activists at the store, and even more around the country. Their leadership was instrumental in the eventual desegregation of lunch counters.

After Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested and jailed in Birmingham, AL, in 1963, thousands of black schoolchildren gathered at the 16th Street Baptist Church to march for their lives, just as students did on March 24.

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a civil rights organization that emerged from the student sit-ins, pledged to overcome racial segregation. Although it was a road paved with literal blood, sweat and tears, these students won, which offers encouragement to today’s student activists.

“In the civil rights movement, there were organizations led by university students,” said Diane Zazzera, a retired social studies teacher and visitors services representative at the Newseum. “Then you saw a huge student movement in opposition to Vietnam, when 18-year-old kids were being drafted but didn’t have the right to vote. With what we are seeing now, I think that students, when they set their minds to something, can get a tremendous amount of energy going.”

Bill and Patty West, natives of Jacksonville, FL, especially appreciated the exhibit, since they lived in the South during the civil rights movement.

“We were in St. Augustine in the ‘60s when Martin Luther King was there,” said Bill. “We heard them singing, but we did not take part in the march. I was younger, and felt differently about things then.”

At the time, Bill was 23, and just out of college, while Patty was 20. More than 50 years later, they see similarities between current protests and the one King led in St. Augustine.

“It brings back all the emotions,” said Patty. “We are very supportive of the student activists and hope they can have the same effect as these students during the civil rights movement.”

Bill notes that the nature of modern-day politics creates unique challenges for activists.

“You are going to have a more difficult job, in a sense, because today, those who are still segregationist in their hearts are more subtle and clever in their tactics,” he said.

Zazzera is confident that today’s student-activists are up to the challenge.

“I find it refreshing that what you are hearing from these kids is not just what they have heard from their parents; this is what these kids have experienced,” she said. “I taught for 20 years and there are so many kids who would come in just parroting what they heard at home. So to hear these students stand up with eloquence and tap into the national frustration that the lawmakers aren’t doing enough is incredible.”

Still, Zazzera is frustrated with the way that Parkland students have been treated by some in the media. She specifically referenced several viral memes that have emerged to ridicule González, including a photoshopped image of her ripping up the Constitution.

“I find it disheartening that we have these people demeaning kids that are giving everything they can,” she said. “That’s the level to which political discourse has sunk in this country. I think they are amazing, they are managing to rise above it and keep focused on what they are trying to do.”

Matthew Nesser, 14, went to the exhibit with a group of his friends as part of a school trip. At his middle school in Winston-Salem, NC, he participated in a student-led walkout similar to the one at WHS. Although he had never known about the role of student leaders in the civil rights movement before, he said that recent events helped him to appreciate the exhibit more.

“There is a barrier between students and teachers, and teachers may not always know what is going on until they hear it from a student, so students need to be able to speak out,” Nesser said.

Student activism also creates solidarity between students with a common goal, even in the most trying situations. Zazzera, who attended the March for Our Lives in D.C., shared an anecdote on student solidarity.

“There were kids here on [March 24] who lived through Sandy Hook,” she said. “They brought a banner that kids from Newtown had signed and passed it on to the kids at Parkland. They said that they had received the same type of support from the kids at Columbine. They are able to reach out and really say, ‘We know.’ ”