Thursday, September 18 ("The Middle Passage"/ sailing to Namibia): Late in the evening on September 16, Success at Sea presented: Traveling as a Person of Color at Sea. The session was intended to provide an academic context for race relations around the world AND prepare students of color for issues they may encounter outside the U.S. Additionally, I hoped allies could learn about challenges students of color may experience while traveling. I asked SAS faculty members, Professor Kesho Scott & Professor Robbie Engelman to facilitate the session.

The session quickly turned from an academic exercise an emotional issue. When Shalina and I met with students a few weeks ago they did not seem frustrated about their experiences on the ship, but- for whatever reason- their frustration level intensified over a few weeks. What was originally supposed to be a one hour academic exercise turned into a nearly three hour support session. Kesho, Robbie, Shalina, and I were ambushed by the intense emotions that emerged for students. Now, when I say students of color, this includes all brown folks on the ship—including international students who more closely relate to experiences students of color are having. Many of the students of color expressed strong opinions/frustrations about being brown on the voyage; they feel isolated because 98% of participants (out of 650) are white, middle to upper class Americans. (As a sidenote, there are 4 faculty & 3 staff of color). During the session students shared that the ship culture feels like a mini America, in all the good and bad ways. Over the course of the conversation, it became clear to me that students were working through the complexities of race, class, privilege, and to some degree anger/hurt (for being treated poorly, or disregarded- to some degree- by white students).

At the end of our session, students agreed that they wanted to do something, symbolically, to come together. They decided it was necessary to acknowledge the historic significance of The Middle Passage. Personally, I had not closely considered the fact that the MV Explorer is currently passing through the Atlantic Ocean from South America (Brazil) to Africa (Namibia). Although our SAS route isn't exactly within The Middle Passage triangle, we are in the waters sailing the same way our (African) ancestors did centuries ago. Students decided they wanted to have a streak of red paint drawn on the middle of their faces as a remembrance to The Middle Passage. In his book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Friere suggests that the oppressed cannot wait on his oppressor for liberation. The oppressed must rise up against their circumstance and take a stance…give voice…create a presence. In America, blacks protested segregation like black & coloured South Africans protested apartheid. So, in any situation where one feels oppressed, he must rise up. Students were feeling oppressed within the shipboard community and this event was their (heck, our) peaceful rising.

When students left, Shalina shared her hesitation to do something like this, because she did not want students to have a negative experience or spark controversy. However, I was on the other side of the spectrum; my rationale was that the activity of painting faces may bring a number of responses, but none worse than what students may have already experienced. Shalina and I let go of our concerns and decided to support students in achieving what they wanted to do. So, we had one day to coordinate efforts, which was challenging, but completely do-able. Shalina and I also worked with the Assistant Dean to ask the ship Captain for use of deck 4, the lowest deck on the ship that is restricted to most, as a part of our ending ceremony. We also worked together to secure materials/space and create Middle Passage signs to educate/post throughout the shipboard community.Professor Kesho also suggested that we try to document the event so those after us could see our journey; I talked to Brittany (photographer) and Greg (videographer) and they agreed to capture the day of remembrance.

On Thursday, September 18, Shalina and I met with students, staff, & faculty of color at 08:30 to paint faces. Each participant was asked to wear a sign that read: Please be respectful as I take this day to honor the historic significant of The Middle Passage. Today you will see people taking part in a day of remembrance honoring the historic significance of The Middle Passage. We invite you to pause and remember the many lives forced to take this historic journey across The Middle Passage, as we make the journey from South America to Africa. If you would like to learn more about the historical significance of this journey, please join us for an open dialogue during the middle passage crossing debrief. 7pm. Classroom 1.

Over the course of the day, the experience of wearing red paint on my face was powerful, more powerful than I could have imagined. Some people asked why I was wearing paint, while others ignored the paint, and- unfortunately- others snickered. I found myself reflecting on the importance of giving voice to my African ancestry and all the lives that were lost in the inhumane business of selling people. For me this exercise was not about being angry at white people; instead it was about CELEBRATING MY ANCESTRY. No, celebrating OUR history because so many people are descendants from the African continent. The activity was about taking a moment to reflect on the fact that, despite harsh circumstances, many people survived the journey from Africa to America. I stand on their backs. I am here because they were there, in the bottom of ships. THEY DID NOT HAVE A CHOICE TO BE ON A SHIP…I AM ON THE MV EXPLORER VOLUNTARILY!

All students, staff, & faculty of color reconvened at 17:00 to march through the ship, in silence, in pairs to give voice to our presence. Shalina and I lead the march throughout the ship and I was overcome with a tremendous amount of emotion and pride and inspiration. I was so proud of students for their willingness not only to be here, but to take a stand and give voice to who they are (just writing about it makes me a bit teary eyed). Recently the weather has been very cold and the sun has not been out in days; by the time we reached deck 4, the sun was shining.

The experience of quietly and slowly marching through the ship allowed all faculty, staff, and students of color to come together and be one. We ended the march on deck 4. Professor Kesho read a poem my Maxine E. Thompson (1992) entitled, The Middle Passage:

"Ever wondered how the ancestors survived the boat ride from Africa to America? Smells of everybody's lives jumbled together as they lay flanked side by side, in a cess pool of blood, tears, and stool, dreaming the undreamable. Deep in the bowels of a slave ship, where many made their tomb, a mother's tears flowed from dried eyed ducts, for the suckling bade snatched from her breast, while hating the enemy whose seed now grew in her womb. Rattlings of shackles never quite able to drown out the re-memory of sun-drenched savannahs where they once roamed as kings and qeens pulverized the spirit…Were they bludgeoned into mindless stupor? Or did they tell themselves, "We must be strong; we must survive for our future sons and daughters"? For survive they did…only to endure the unwriteable…bondage…false freedom…lynchings….now drugs…Ever wondered what the ancestors would believe if they knew of perilous journey their future see must fork through the middle passage from their mother's crack-filled womb? Deep in the caverns of an incubator, where many make their tomb, a drug baby's life shackled to tubes, ventilators, not guaranteed to save, like mother's milk, an umbilical cord, but an alien world…Now, who's the slave?"

After Professor Kesho read the poem, I invited everyone to take a handful of rice (this was symbolic because slaves were scarcely feed corn and rice) and share what they experienced during their day of Middle Passage Remembrance. I then asked each person to give thanks to their ancestors, to say a private wish, or to be silent and release the rice into the Atlantic Ocean.

The day ended with a conversation open to the entire ship board community. A number of faculty, staff, and students attended the debriefing conversation and engaged in open dialogue. Our conversation could have gone on for another hour, but we had to wrap things up so everyone could attend mandatory cultural pre port meetings.

After the event, I was especially touched by Professor Kesho's kind words to me and Shalina. She sailed on SAS in 1991 and said that she was the only faculty member of color at that time; today, in 2008, she is proud to be one of several more people of color. Kesho believes this event will raise the bar of expectations and change for future SAS voyages. And, undoubtedly, future brown SASers will stand on our backs.

PS: Also, a creatively designed/ educational sign read:

Everyday we write our story. It is made up of small moments, which can be quiet and mundane, and large moments that become the bookmarks of our lives. Our stories have a cast of characters who bring richness and complexity to the narration. Our stories can be thematic, allegoric, and sometimes even comedic. Our stories are personal and important and can, when shared, enrich the lives of others of whom you wish to share your story with.This is part of our story…The Middle Passage refers tothe forced transportation of African people from Africa to the New World as part of the Atlantic slave trade. African kings, warlords and private kidnappers sold captives to Europeans who held several coastal forts. The captives were usually force-marched to these ports along the western coast of Africa, where they were held for sale to the European or American slave traders in the barracoons. Typical slave ships contained several hundred slaves with about thirty crew members. The male captives were normally chained together in pairs to save space; right leg to the next man's left leg — while the women and children may have had somewhat more room. The captives were fed beans, corn, yams, rice, and palm oil. Slaves were fed one meal a day with water, but if food was scarce, slaveholders would get priority over the slaves. Sometimes captives were allowed to move around during the day, but many ships kept the shackles on throughout the arduous journey.