The entire Gateway Middle School – about 530 students – went to see the movie “Selma” on Friday, January 16 in two local theaters – Galleria 6 and the Moolah.
Ever since Michael Brown Jr.’s shooting death, Principal Aisha Grace said the teachers are consistently looking for meaningful ways to discuss the Ferguson movement. What’s happening in Ferguson has made their history lessons more real, she said.
“Kids are getting it now because they are in it,” Grace said in an interview at the school, 1200 North Jefferson Ave., after the students returned from the movie. “I’ve seen several of my students at protests when I go.”
Seventh-grade teacher Tanisha Joyce had the idea of going to see the movie. She said it was a “fun challenge” to make the arrangements quickly for the entire school, but it was worth it. Joyce thought the movie would be a good follow-up activity to the peaceful protest the school held a couple of weeks ago.
“The first time I saw energy like that was when I was at the Ferguson Police Department,” Joyce said. “I saw all my kids feel that same energy, and they were all chanting together. It was amazing.”
Joyce had already seen the movie, but watching it as a group was more emotional, she said.
“Today when I saw the part with bloody Sunday and when they were all running in different directions, I thought about one of my students that I saw running from tear gas and I couldn’t find her,” she said. “I had to step back.”
Joyce said one of the “strongest boys” put his arm around her and asked her if she needed a hug. Several boys told Grace that they cried repeatedly throughout the movie.
“We were definitely a big family today,” Joyce said. “It was really cool.”
Christian Wallace-Hughes, an eighth grade student, said the movie inspired him to get more involved.
“I feel like I should be doing something right now to help the efforts on police brutality,” he said. “And there’s also many other issues being brought up, like how grand juries are selected. I want to get more involved, but I need to have more information.”
It seemed many of his peers felt the same way, but others were acting out during the movie.
“That really pushed my buttons because to me, it made me feel like they don’t understand what’s really going on,” he said. “It feels like they don’t recognize that there are problems out here that they can help to fix.”
However, Wallace-Hughes said before he went on a civil rights field trip in the sixth grade, he didn’t understand the depth of the Civil Rights Movement either. To help students understand, they need to be taught, he said.
“We need to inspire the students to get angry about what’s going on and realize that we are not treated equally,” he said.
The character in the movie that most stood out to him was John Lewis, former chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. He was the youngest member of the “Big Six” leaders of the Civil Rights Movement.
“He was able to recognize problems deeper than the actual surface,” he said.
Wallace-Hughes described the scene where they were talking about the key problems of voting rights in Alabama. Lewis recognized that many people could not register to vote because they had to get a recommendation from someone who was a registered voter, he said.
“He named a town where no African-American citizens were registered to vote and couldn’t get a recommendation,” he said. “No white people would give them a recommendation.”
Watching the bombing of the African-American church in Alabama moved eighth graders Ikel Sevier and Thomas Frye, they said. The bombing by white supremacists killed four girls on September 15, 1963.
“The girls were just talking, having a normal conversation,” Sevier said.
“It made my heart jump,” Frye said. “I already knew what was going to happen because we discussed it about the Alabama bombing. It made me sad. I was thinking that could have been me.”
Sevier said he thought about his little sister getting killed.
“It made me mad because why would you do that to innocent little girls when they had a lot to live for?” Frye said.
Seventh grader Jamyha Luss talked about Oprah Winfrey’s character in the movie – a woman who was beaten by police during protests.
“She kept fighting,” she said. “It made me want to be strong and not quit.”
Grace said their challenge as educators is to provide the avenues for them to express themselves.
“Kids are understanding different aspects of what a movement is and what civil rights means,” Grace said, “and what it means to be able to say what you feel in a way that’s positive.”
