THANKS!

Freedom Ride 2010 would not have been possible without the financial support of Province IV, each of the three dioceses of North Carolina, the Swindell Major Speakers Fund, and the Bishop’s Committee on Racial Justice and Reconciliation.

Meals, lodging, showers, or other hospitality were graciously provided by St. James, Holy Cross, and the YMCA (Wilmington); Calvary (Tarboro); St. Ambrose, St. Augustine’s College Chapel, and Christ Church (Raleigh); St. Titus (Durham); St. Cyprian’s and St. Stephen’s (Oxford); Chapel of the Cross (Chapel Hill); Holy Trinity, The Beloved Community, and the YMCA (Greensboro). In addition, North Carolina Historic Sites provided site support and speaker leads--thank you, Michelle Lanier. All this help made a potentially prohibitively expensive pilgrimage easily affordable.

We pray for a few days of relaxation for an extremely dedicated, talented, and now exhausted leadership team: ADULTS: Lisa Aycock, Cookie Cantwell, Beth Crow, Pete Crow, the Rev. Canon Michael Hunn, the Rev. Kym Lucas, Osondu McPeters, and Barbara Whitesides. YOUTH: Parker Bailes, David Brown, Sarah Clark, Chris Harris, Elyse Head, Sequoia Howard, and Keva Miller. The goals were ambitious and the challenges daunting. But with God's help and a busload of eager, receptive pilgrims, as William Faulkner once said, they "not only endured, they prevailed."

Retreat Photos

Freedom Ride 2010: A Journey of Reconciliation spent the last two days at Haw River State Park, near Greensboro, processing a mountain of information and feelings. As you can imagine, some of this was very painful. Moving out of pain into reconciliation and creativity involved a number of structured activities such as meditation, dialog, brainstorming, discussion, and expressing oneself through music, writing, and a group art project.
Through these activities as well as playing basketball and Frisbee, dancing, and just being together, participants and leaders made lasting friendships sealed by an evening healing service.

View more photos!

Still More!

General Reflection

Okay, so, I have been intentionally avoiding this whole blogging experience for some time now, but I feel like maybe I should give it a try and just see what happens. The trip is really coming together and these past couple of days have been the best yet, both in terms of the activities and in terms of the bonds between us. I have been feeling closer to the other 40 some odd people on this trip and getting more out of the activities everyday, I guess you could say we're getting into the swing of things. We were interviewed by the press today and the whole experience of being interviewed on camera (which was aired in all its awkwardness on the 6 o'clock Raleigh-Durham news) and on paper gave me the sense that we were finally getting out message out there. And that is what this trip is really about: coming together for the sake of spreading our message to the communities we visit.

Our message is one I think we as a country, and even as a church, need to hear. It isn't necessarily a black/white issue, though that's what we are focusing on. The issue is in fact much larger, much more difficult to tackle, but our goal is that the message we spread here this week will spark the discussions, spark the realizations in the hearts of those who hear it, which will ultimately change the world we live in, which will ultimately allow all people to truly understand the full implications of the words in our Baptismal Covenant when we promise to respect the dignity of every human being. That "respect" is not a benign action. It is active, and it is difficult. I will be the first to say that I have failed in fulfilling that promise, and that I am still failing in it. My hope is not to fix the world and all that's wrong with it, but that maybe through our efforts we can make it a little bit better.

To paraphrase the words of the the Archbishop Desmond Tutu: Jesus said, 'When I be lifted up, I will draw all peoples to myself.' The key word there is "all." All all all all all, black, white, rich, poor, beautiful, not so beautiful. All all all all, gay, bi, so-called straight. We are all meant to be held in this incredible embrace that will not let us go. All.

God's peace,
~J York

True thoughts

I really feel emotionally shaken by this whole experience of Freedom Ride. My experiences have really forever changed me and really opened my heart to the wonderful bunch of youth, whom i love dearly.From the deep conversations to the light, this is a break through in courage and acceptance of all people.


Ben Padilla

Blood Done Sign My Name

One of the most moving experiences of this trip thus far has been the play Blood Done Sign My Name. It was incredible seeing how well the actor interacted with the audience. At one point, he had us all join hands and sing, "We Shall Overcome," and it was at that moment that I realized the power of Freedom Ride. This pilgrimage has definitely put several issues involving race into perspective for me. The conversation we had afterward with Tim Tyson strengthened my understanding of current racial issues, and I truly feel like we are making a difference here.

Rebecca G.

Freedom Ride 2010, July 14

There are so many things that I wish I could say right now. As a white teenage male, I am in no way a minority, or "target group" as we say, but this experience has truly touched my heart. As I walked around sites like Fort Fisher, Somerset Place, and Edenton, I came to realize how inhuman my race has been towards people. It is a story we're told in school as children, but it is a rare experience to LIVE where former enslaved people were, see the condition of their housing, and attempt to see what they may have seen. The world in North Carolina seems a little less bright after seeing all these tragic events and places first hand, but in my heart I have hope. I can look around at our group of people, see the different races, see the different genders, see the different backgrounds, but at the end of the day we are one community. The laughter and stories that I have shared with the other guys in our group are so uplifting I think we forget that our skin color is any different from one anothers. I do miss my mom and my dad a lot as well as my goofy little brother and silly big sister, but I feel blessed to be a part of this group.

This experience has already taught me so much, but I know I'm not done learning yet. I know the other youth are with me when I say we think about our families often and will be glad to see them when we get back. But now I gotta go, it's dinner time!!

Erich Hoffmann

photos

Oxford, Day 6

Sorry for the blog delay; as you will see, we have been going at a hectic pace.

Since our last blog, we have been to Fort Fisher near Wilmington, had a tour of Wilmington sites related to the Civil War, Restoration, Jim Crow, and Civil Rights. We have traveled to a restoration of Somerset Plantation in Creswell, and followed the trail of slave woman Harriet Jacobs in Edenton. We have seen a presentation on living conditions of farm workers in present-day eastern North Carolina, and gleaned peas and corn with the St. Andrews Society in a field next to two crews of Latino farm workers in other fields. We toured the capitol building in Raleigh as well as several sites at St. Augustine's College, after which we celebrated a jazz Eucharist where one of our leaders, Kim Lucas, presided, and Bishop Curry preached. This morning, we reflected on some slave narratives on the site of what was once the largest plantation in North Carolina--Stagville. Now we are enjoying some much needed down time, with a cool swim at a beautiful pool in Oxford.

Pete

It's hot... that's definitely been a factor this week, for many of us. But I think that through the 'suffering' of the heat and the work and the hard-to-deal-with "stuff" it's really bringing this rag-tag group from across the state closer and closer together. The youth held a meeting all together, and during the meeting I noticed that the "clumping" (subconscious grouping of black and white people) we were experiencing most of the trip had been totally dissolved, in many ways. We were in a room built for 10, all 32 of us, and I noticed that instead of the splotches of black and white had become one big group, black and white and every color in between.
As my good friend Chris Sime said "Guys, guys! We have achieved Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's dream, black and white siting in the same room, not arguing, not discriminating, but discussing how we, as a community, can break down the barriers." A short moment of silence followed, by great enthusiasm.
We have come many, many miles already, and have many more ahead of us, and as Bishop Curry said last night in his A-W-E-S-O-M-E sermon, quoting Harriet Tubman "...If you want to taste freedom, Just Keep Going!" I have high hopes for the next leg of our trip, and I especially look forward to having my own room and my own shower where I don't have to remember the "5 rules". Haha!

Parker Bailes

As a teenage girl, I can confidently say that a single shower can turn my whole day around, and nothing has made this more evident than the past few days. I've felt gross, disgusting, really, and yet, while sometimes I feel I'd give my soul to wash my hair, I know that this is all worth it. This is mostly because this trip is turning my whole life around. I may be without my comfort here at times, but so many others have never had it. From gleaning peas in a field to enduring the sweltering slave cabins at several plantations, I've come to know the discomfort of those that don't have the freedom to know anything else. Simply put, I'm learning. This learning is uncomfortable, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Elyse Head

PHOTOS LATER

Janee & Megan!

So......

Our journey here has just begun and let's just say it has been a BLAST!  We have learned a lot here on our first day around Wilmington and learned a lot about our culture today.  We also have been goofing off and having a great time getting to know each other.  As Osondu would say.... "PEACE OUT"!

Wilmington, Day 2

My experience today was really interesting and I learned a lot. During  the tour of Wilmington we went on I learned a lot of information about  blacks and other races. What caught my eye the most was the fact that  there was a black cemetery and a white cemetery. There is so much history out  there that I did not know about and I am glad I got a chance to enjoy  the tour.

Michaela Anderson

My  experience these two days was great. I love the people here. They  are amazing group of teens and adults. What I learned from being here  was that I didn't know as much as I thought!! Lots more to learn!!!

Kayla Mills 

The two days I've been here have been very very good... Being able to  fellowship with others from different backgrounds and but all be on one  accord has been great... One cause can do some much and I am looking  forward towards the rest of this week... Signing out...

Shaq Barber

Everybody's Here

Usually the participants will write this blog. But they are so busy getting to know each other, I will do it today. The bus arrived around 2:30, and other members not long thereafter. Everybody has eaten well and found a good space to settle in for several days here at St. James Episcopal Church in Wilmington. It's been mostly get-to-know-each other games and talking in small groups about expectations for the Freedom Ride. There is a lot of excitement and everyone seems open to new ways of looking at things, to making new kinds of friends.

The journey almost starts!!!!! Can't wait for the experience

Hey!!!!

Its so neat to think that within 24 hours the participants will finally be joining us. For months it seems this has been so far away and now it is finally here. All of the preparations are coming together just as God intended, thanks to everyone's work prior. As a group we are all coming together and opening up to each other. With our initial bonds continuing to grow and strengthen I think this is setting the tone for the participants. Our discussions have have brought up some great eye-opening points. All in all this trip will be filled with tons of learning. If we can show the participants that we can trust each other and that we can overcome our difference then hopefully with time they will be able to do so also. Thanks to everyone for all of their prayers I think this trip is going to be greater than any of us ever expected. It will change our lives just as God planned, as long as we trust him.

Today,  for compline we went out to the beach since we had spent the late afternoon at the BEAUTIFUL Whitesides's beach house. It was simply lovely to have a few moments to think and meditate. As we went around the circle and read the compline service aloud it really gets you in the right frame of mind for a good night sleep ( which we all need so we can be prepared for tomorrow when the participants arrive!!!!!!) and that as our participants are traveling they are in our prayers wishing them a safe journey. We are continuing to pray for all of our participants and their family members. We know that this will be a great adventure for all of us and that we will all take this experience with us back to our lives.

Peace and Love,

Sarah Clark

Gearing up for Freedom Ride 2010!

Final preparations are underway for Freedom Ride 2010: A Pilgrimage of Reconciliation! We have had a few last minute guests sign up for the trip - and we are happy to have them. Stay tuned for photos and updates as we embark on this experience!