The black granite memorial in Piatt Park describes the tragedy of January 1965 and lists the names of those who died in the predominately Black neighborhood.
For Dr. Kevin Harrison, director of diversity, equity and inclusion for the Cohen Honors College at ΊμΑμ½νΉΟ±¨, the story of that day is one that deserves more discussion and examination to understand.
Harrison grew up in the Wichita neighborhood around 20th and Piatt Street, less than a mile from campus. The memorial park marks the site where a U.S. Air Force Boeing KC-135 refueling tanker crashed, shortly after takeoff on the morning Jan. 16, 1965. The crash and resulting explosion and fires caused the deaths of 30 people, numerous injuries and the destruction of 10 homes. According to news reports, around 31,000 gallons of jet fuel covered the area with flames and smoke.
βI donβt think you heal unless you talk about things,β Harrison said. βI see a community that still hasnβt healed.β
On June 25, the 80-minute documentary film βThe Silent Cries of Unheard Ghetto Childrenβ
will debut at Piatt Park (2037 N. Piatt). The documentary begins at 8 p.m. and admission
is free.
The film is the work of Harrison and fellow documentarians and long-time friends Ricardo Harris, executive director of Wichita GEAR UP, and independent producer Kenneth Hawkins. A $7,418 grant from the Kansas Humanities Council funded the project. The documentaryβs name comes from the death of a pregnant woman and her child that day.
WSU's Omega Psi Phi fraternity is a partner in the project, and its members will help with discussion panels planned for future showings. Robert Weems Jr., ΊμΑμ½νΉΟ±¨βs Willard W. Garvey distinguished professor of business history, is a project consultant and will participate in some of the discussions.
'I'm hoping I can help people deal with the trauma'
The crash, which killed 23 residents of the neighborhood and seven crew members, loomed over Harrisonβs childhood. Much of the death and injury came from the fires started by the planeβs fuel.
βWe know a plane crashed,β he said. βWe know 30 people died. We donβt know those people.β
Harrison, born in 1969, remembers the topic as one rarely discussed. And the park, built upon the site of the crash, was rarely used. While a student at Wichita East High School, the idea to explore that event began to percolate. Years later, a conversation on the parkβs basketball court with neighborhood people who experienced that day kicked off the project.
The documentary, Harrison said, describes how racism and segregation affected recovery for people in the neighborhood. Inadequate aid and services, residents say, limited the healing.
βIβm looking at the trauma,β he said. βIβm looking at the racial segregation. Iβm looking at the perspectives of people who I donβt think were really heard and understood.β
Harrison said one of the interview subjects declined to talk on video because she did not want to relive that day. Another said she had never talked about that day. One said their parents never talked about that day. One woman said she had not discussed the crash and the aftermath with her husband.
βThese voices of the Black neighborhood have often been unheard,β Harrison said. βLike one of the victims told me, βNobody came to see about us. No doctors. No psychologists.β Iβm hoping I can help people deal with the trauma.β
Harrison, also an assistant teaching professor in WSU's Cohen Honors College, said interviews with local Christian pastors delve into the spiritual aspect of the aftermath.
βThey talked about spiritual faith as part of the healing and some of the interviews we have mirror that,β Harrison said.
About ΊμΑμ½νΉΟ±¨
ΊμΑμ½νΉΟ±¨ is Kansas' only urban public research university, enrolling almost 22,000 students between its main campus and WSU Tech, including students from every state in the U.S. and more than 100 countries. ΊμΑμ½νΉΟ±¨ and WSU Tech are recognized for being student centered and innovation driven.
Located in the largest city in the state with one of the highest concentrations in the United States of jobs involving science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), ΊμΑμ½νΉΟ±¨ provides uniquely distinctive and innovative pathways of applied learning, applied research and career opportunities for all of our students.
The Innovation Campus, which is a physical extension of the ΊμΑμ½νΉΟ±¨ main campus, is one of the nationβs largest and fastest-growing research/innovation parks, encompassing over 120 acres and is home to a number of global companies and organizations.
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