From Nathaniel Eisen:

As a group, we decided that everything we did today had to do with Civil Rights and, yet, each issue has so much to explore in it. We were helped in our exploration of each issue by meeting with friendly and dedicated people that work on these issues.

After the first of what promises to be many continental breakfasts (the waffles earn high praise) we met with Tim Cole and Rabbi Steven Lebow to discuss the lynching of Leo Frank at the site where the hanging occurred. Leo Frank was a Jew from New York who moved to Atlanta and ran a pencil factory. He was wrongly accused of murdering 14 year old Mary Phagan. In a trial that was a travesty of justice, he was sentenced to death. This event led to the resurrection of the KKK as well as the creation of the ADL. Listening to Frank’s story, the rigged witnesses at his trial, the bravery of Governor of Georgia at the time who commuted his death sentence as well as the anti-Semitism that followed, including the lynching, I felt anger, awe and a little apprehension of this loss of Civil Rights.

After a quick stop at the Coca Cola Museum, after all, we were in Atlanta, where we had fun tasting beverages from all over the world we had lunch in Underground Atlanta.

Our next meeting was with Reverend Williams, a contemporary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Ebeaneazer Baptist Church where Dr. King Jr. grew up and where he went on to co-pastor with his father. Reverend Williams was amazing – energetic, smart and loving. He told us about his own life work in desegregating Georgia schools with his daughter as well as about Dr. King’s life, used Dr. King as an example of a kid who absorbed information in school and went on to use it to do great things.

Funny he should mention school because that was something many in our group contrasted with in our daily group discussion on what we learned and experienced during the day. But first came the Names Project. This is the organization that collects, stores and displays the AIDS Quilt. We did not just see the list of names of those who died of AIDS; we read the quilt panels that their loved ones made for them. We spoke with Chris, who works at the Names Project and has lived with AIDS for 8 years. He spoke frankly, occasionally humorously, sometimes heartbreakingly about his life with AIDS. He has to take 15 pills every day. He can’t go out in the heat, his favorite climate, for too long without getting sunstroke. He has seen many of his friends die of AIDS and he thinks much more in terms of short-term goals since his diagnosis. Chris told us that 492 people who can’t afford the medications are on a wait list for them in Alabama alone as much of the Federal money to fight AIDS here in America has been diverted to fight AIDS in Africa. He also told us that employers of less than 15 people can refuse to hire someone just because they have AIDS.

Many of us said that the day’s experiences had brought past and present problems closer to them than any textbook or lecture had ever dine before. We were all amazed at how linked everything we had learned today was… from the issue of anti-Semitism in the Leo Frank lynching to the work of Dr. King to the current efforts of the community fighting AIDS…it is all variations on getting involved in the struggle of Civil Rights. We were also in awe over how complicated each issue was. I will always remember the friendly, hard working people we met today… they will continue to be an inspiration.