UCLA Freedom Riders honored for activism at commemorative event
Kamil Fields, a first-year world arts and cultures student, performs a spoken poetry piece during an event held to commemorate the Bruin Freedom Riders. (Hannah Ye/Daily Bruin)
By Daily Bruin Staff
Feb. 9, 2015 1:32 a.m.
Robert Singleton begged his wife Helen not to make the journey from UCLA to Jackson, Miss., 54 years ago to protest interstate segregation.
He said he was worried his wife would be in danger if she went with him, but he knew she was ready to travel to the South with him to fight for her rights.
The Singletons were two of the six surviving UCLA Freedom Riders who talked about their experiences at “Journey to Change,” a commemorative event for the activists Friday night.
Denise Pacheco, executive officer to the vice chancellor of student affairs, worked with the Afrikan Student Union and the Undergraduate Students Association Council to put on the event. The Afrikan Women’s Collective, the Afrikan Men’s Collective and the Black Law Students Association also hosted events on Wednesday to give students background about the Freedom Rides leading up to Friday night’s commemoration. Nearly 600 students and UCLA community members attended to hear the accounts of the eight Freedom Riders.
Singleton sat onstage beside five other Freedom Riders, including his wife. The other riders present were Robert Farrell, Rabbi Philip Posner, Max Pavesic and Joseph Gerbac. Relatives joined the panel in place of Freedom Riders William Leons and Albert Barouh, who have since died.
The speakers told the audience they were a small portion of the nearly 500 activists who journeyed by bus into cities such as Jackson and New Orleans in 1961 to protest segregation in the public transportation system.
The activists talked about their experiences being imprisoned after entering the South. The Singletons were arrested on a charge of disturbing the peace and eventually incarcerated at a Mississippi state prison, where they were then separated by race and gender.
Ronald Holden, a fourth-year Asian American studies student who attended the event, said he appreciated the way the Freedom Riders were all able to discuss their experiences in a somewhat humorous way. At some points in the discussion, the riders talked in lighthearted ways about their families’ reactions to their decisions to join the movement.
“The amount of humor the speakers were able to incorporate into their stories … gave me a sense of hope for humanity, because they witnessed and experienced such horrible events,” Holden said.
At the event, the panelists said they think that progress has been made since their time as activists, but the United States is still far from racial equality. Pacheco said the racial diversity of the panel was important to her.
“It is important to have allies and to realize that these issues don’t only affect African Americans,” Pacheco said.
Kamil Fields, a first-year world arts and cultures student, performed a spoken-word poem at the event that described the racism she’s faced personally as a person of color in Los Angeles, and the oppression that she’s seen others go through.
Fields talked about issues she said she felt close to, including the fatal police shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., in August.
Following Fields’ performance, Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson and Reginald Jones-Sawyer, assemblyman and chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus, honored the late Freedom Riders with a moment of silence.
Some students said they were inspired by the Freedom Riders to pursue their own activist work.
“I thought the night was very thought-provoking,” said Brittani Lash, a third-year political science student. “It inspired me because I like to attend marches and be involved as much as I can.”
Shamell Bell, a graduate student in world arts and cultures and an advocate for the Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter, said she was moved by the stories of the riders. Bell said she was interested in hearing the panelists’ take on the generation gap between today’s students and the riders.
“I feel that the elders involved in the movement put forward a charge for the youth of today to really get involved, and I think we have been (involved),” Bell said. “We’re aiming to bridge the generational disconnect and unify all involved in the movement.”
