"I feel that this is a very important time," said Sanders. "At this point of history, we have to choose between global community and global chaos. It all depends on what we fight for, and what we stand for."
Sanders narrated the story of Barbara Jones, a black woman who, as a teenager, tricked her classmates into believing there was a school assembly. "Once everyone showed up, she stood up and denounced the shortcomings of the school," said Sanders. The school was suffering from insufficient funding.
"She said [to her classmates]: Today we will leave school and not return until justice is served," Sanders said. "The story of Barbara Jones is very inspiring to me, because it shows the power of young people."
Sanders then discussed the educational system in Selma, Al., Sanders' hometown. "At junior high school I realized that I was being tracked to a lower level," said Sanders, referring to the racist practice of placing black students in low-level classes.
The existence of student tracking became public information when evidence of its intentional nature was uncovered. "Tracking started when segregation ended, as a means to circumvent Brown v. Board of Education."
"Eventually we got rid of the tracking system, [although the educational system] is still not what we want it to be," she said.
Sanders also discussed the campaign to oust Joe Smitherman, who had been mayor of Selma for 35 years. The nation-wide civil rights movement chose Selma as a target city which had a socially unjust local government.
"We talked about going from door to door," said Sanders. At first, however, Selma residents were apprehensive about coming out against the powerful long-time mayor. "We asked people to honk their horns on the freeway if they wanted Smitherman to be ousted. People were scared to blow their horns."
In the end, however, the campaign was successful. Sanders emphasized the change that the people of Selma had undergone. "People went from being scared to that level of confidence and certainty to voice their disapproval of the [former] mayor," she said. "After the elections, there was a high all over town. People came out to celebrate."
Sanders underscored the importance of remembering past struggles for social justice. "People have a tendency to forget," she said. "It's sometimes too painful to remember."
Margaret Hass '07 was impressed with Sanders' presentation. "It was very inspiring," Hass said. "It makes me feel like there are people out there working hard to try and change the world."
Bandera Memory, a student at Mount Holyoke College, felt the same. "[Sanders] is a very dynamic speaker," she said. "It was really enlightening to realize that real tangible change is possible, and that the racial issues are not gone, and still constantly have to be dealt with."