By DaRon Smith

William “Chip” Haywood, DSU alumnus and independent filmmaker, is teaching the millennial generation about their lost connection to the Civil Rights Movement of the 50s and 60s.

Haywood explained that this project was a way to bridge between the generations from the Civil Rights movement and those who were taught the stories of the struggles of the mid-1900s and the youth of today.

Various professors on campus agree that there is a disconnect with the newer generation today, as DSU some students don’t even know who Medgar Evers is and what he did, even though one of the buildings is named after him.

Haywood gives the example of how if, 10 years ago if someone did not like you may be just the campus would know, if 20 years ago nobody would really know, but now if someone does not like you potentially the rest of the world would know; this is because of technology and the social media.

Before social media, hundreds were able to come together for these marches and rallies this says something about how much things have changed.

In Haywood’s opinion, the media controls fear.

The media controls what it wants its viewers to see, the beheadings in the Middle East have been occurring for a while but the news is now starting to cover these stories and tell people about them.

“We need to be knowledgeable of this time period because the people involved in these movements were our age,” Haywood said.

Even though they were dressed in suits and ties and professional dresses, they were all young like us, they were out making a difference in the world for a good cause…change.

Young adults marching for equality and desegregation went through a lot to get to where we are today, Haywood said.

But where are we today, what is the status of young African Americans around the country?

Killing each other be-cause of gang violence, “beef”, twitter arguments, video games, or for no clear reason at all.

In certain neighborhoods African Americans risk getting killed from walking outside if it is too late, this is not what hundreds of people risked their lives for at all.

Haywood asks the question, “As students at an HBCU do we believe that even though we have all access to the news we are still controlled by what the media wants us to believe?”