Monday, June 4, 2001

By Teri Weaver

Andre Parks has one close friend in Syracuse. That friend got Parks, who spends much of his time in chat rooms on the Internet, onto the wrestling mat and the team at Henniger High School.

"But there ain't much to do now that wrestling season is over," Parks, 16, said almost two weeks ago.

Now, there are four-wheelers to ride.

"I didn't even know there was a Stockbridge, New York," the 16-year-old from Syracuse said.

Since he's met Ryan Putman and Adrienne Wilson, who both grew up on dairy farms in northeastern Madison County, Parks has learned about having fun in the country. "I'm coming out to visit them to ride four-wheelers. I hope I get to go."

Putman smiled at the proposed visit. "You ask too many questions," he teased Parks, who called himself "too shy" to talk in a crowd before he and 15 other high-school students left for a trip through Mississippi to learn about civil rights last weekend.

By Sunday, Parks was well out of his shell and able to take Putman's teasing. In eight days, the group had traveled to churches, homes and public parks to meet with people who once boycotted, protested and fought against segregation. They were surprised and awed to hear stories about how hard and scary it had once been for African-Americans to shop, eat in a restaurant or register to vote.

But the most unexpected lessons happened as these 16 teen-agers grew toward each other.

"We broke down a lot of stereotypes," said Shanetkwa Little, a junior at Fowler High School in Syracuse. "At first, you could tell everyone in the group was nervous and didn't know what to expect."

"At first you think, 'she's gonna be this, or she's gonna be that,' " said Tiffonia Bufford, a junior at Jamesville-DeWitt. "Then I find out they're so nice."

By Sunday, they were winding down their week-long trip through Mississippi with their toughest and hottest day yet. They went to church at Cade Chapel, the church where Medgar Evers once worshipped and held meetings. Evers, the first field representative for the NAACP in Mississippi, was fatally shot in his Jackson driveway in 1963.

Still, as the teens saw Sunday, church and politics mix. Jackson's mayoral race is Tuesday, and when the Rev. Horace L. Buckley first stood behind the pulpit, he reminded his congregation to vote. Before worship started, the youth group gathered for prayer. Their leader first asked if any of the youngsters could work the polls Tuesday.

After church, the Central New York teens rode 70 miles to the Williamsburg Park in Bassfield. Nine blues and gospel acts were scheduled to play, including Sam Myers, Little Milton Campbell and B. B. King.

The kids had a glimpse of King Saturday evening in Jackson on Farish Street, once the black shopping and music district of the state's capital city. King sat in a rocking chair in front of the Alamo, a renovated theater that once again showcases blues and R&B acts, and thanked the crowd for coming.

He received a sidewalk marker to the streets' future walk of fame. But the street is still full of empty storefronts, and the city must rip up the crumbling walkways, re-pave the streets and add new lights before the marker is installed.

King thanked the crowd of about 150 but left most of the program for others, including Charles Evers, Medgar's brother. King also said hello to Sen. Nancy Larraine Hoffmann, R-Fabius, who worked with Charles Evers in Mississippi in the early 1970s. Hoffmann organizes the civil rights trip each year for a group of high school students from her district.

The eight-day trip forced the teens through long days and conversations about race and racism. It also meant short nights of sleep, one of the few drawbacks about the trip. Their longest day was Thursday - a visit at a plantation home at 9:15 a.m. in Natchez to a late-night snack at Denny's in Jackson that lasted well past 1 a.m.

But that constant companionship was the reason they felt so close when the week was over.

"I would have never thought I'd be able to dance in front of people I'd only known a few days," Abdulla Alnouri said, then quickly denied he was dancing at Thursday night's gospel concert. It was more like swaying, he said.

Eric Bailey, the only senior on the trip, said he was amazed at how easily everyone shared stories. Bailey, a student at East Syracuse-Minoa, went on the trip last year and said the second time let him notice more details. "I never realized there were still blood stains," he said of faint patterns in Medgar Evers' carport that he saw Monday.

That night, the teens had listened to a recent graduate of Tougaloo College, a private historically black college, that also left an impression. The woman, who was African-American, told the group about restaurants in Jackson where she felt unwelcome and the unfair treatment she received from salespeople.

"I got a little nervous," said Michelle Daniels, a junior at Rome Free Academy. "It was upsetting. We were talking about it, and everybody just wanted to go (to the restaurant) and sit."