US Freedom Riders 60 years later remember the summer of change | Black Lives Matter News
[ad_1]
60 years ago, a group of young idealists intended to combat segregation in the southern United States. Among them were Lewis Zuchman, 19, and Luvaghn Brown, 16, who joined the Freedom Rides campaign in the summer of 1961. Now in the 70s, no details are known.
“I was the youngest cyclist in white freedom, and Luvaghn the youngest in black freedom,” Zuchman told Al Jazeera. “Somehow we got together.”
Brown said the couple met in Jackson, Mississippi, but how they started talking – “we can’t guess that,” he laughed.
From May to November of that year, more than 400 young activists — black and white — boarded an interstate bus to cities in the southern United States. Their mission: To address the distinction that was still in force at Southern transportation stations, even though the Supreme Court ruled last year that the practice was unconstitutional.
The reception they made was hostile. Freedom cyclists, as they became known, were often angered by the whites of the south. There were numerous incidents of mafia violence in Alabama and Mississippin, often aided by local police forces. Although they were lucky enough to avoid the beating, many activists spent weeks in jail.
Zuchman recalls the hatred that was strongly arrested after his arrival in Jackson, Mississippi, and his immediate arrest.
“I remember walking around with other inmates who tied me up, and the judge who punished me saw me and threw me out. Judge! ”Zuchman said. “So you started to realize how scary it was down there. This was not what we thought in America. “
He spent 40 days at the famous Parchman State Penitentiary in Mississippi.
“I remember the guy who would give me food in the morning, who was a big white trustee with tattoos. And one day he said, “If it were up to me, I’d poison the MFs of each of you.” And trust me, we were very hard eating the next few days, ”Zuchman added.
It was far from his hometown of New York City. Zuchman was inspired to join his movement by his longtime baseball hero, Jackie Robinson, the first black man to play in Major League Baseball. He watched Robinson as he walked the television show discussing freedom and whether the campaign should end because of the violence.
“At the end of the show, (Robinson) said, with a tear on his face, ‘Look, if these young people feel it’s time to stand up, who are we to tell?’ So I decided to volunteer for Freedom Rider the next day. “
‘The decision to put life in line’
The young people who volunteered for the Freedom Rides were incredibly brave, says Raymond Arsenault, Professor Emeritus of Southern History at the University of South Florida and author of the book Freedom Riders: 1961 And The Struggle for Racial Justice.
“Basically, the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacists in the South were daring to stop them,” Arsenault told Al Jazeera. at the tables and forced confrontation “.
The campaign also forced the administration of then-President John F Kennedy to study racism in the U.S., a time when Cold War missiles were more concerned than the Mississippi.
When he learned of the start of Freedom Rides, the 16-year-old Brown was not interested.
“A lot of them were talking about non-violence and all things. That didn’t appeal to me, actually, ”Brown told Al Jazeera,“ I felt like I had to hurt people to change things. That’s what I was then. ”
Growing up in Jackson’s Black turned Brown into a young man who was angry. He recalls the murder of Emmett Till in 1955 when he was 10 years old in Money, which sent fear into his community, realizing that “whites wanted to kill anyone and run away with it.”
Until the age of 14, Black was beaten and killed by white men who believed he had spoken properly to a white woman.
But as more of Jackson’s walks came, Brown began to change his mind.
“I thought it was wonderful to have people come from all over,” he said. “They explained what freedom rides were. I said it was fresh. We should be doing something. “
Although Brown did not ride buses, he was heavily involved in the campaign in Jackson; defying segregation, organizing boycotts, spending time in prison, and finding them in what he called horrific situations.
“The clan came after us one night with the help of the local police. And so we escaped by jumping off the roof of an adjoining building, “Brown recalls.” The Klan stairs went up, they were at the front door. They almost killed us. “
‘I never thought we should leave’
Zuchman and Brown spent a lot of summer in Jackson. And despite the tremendous fear and initially indifferent public opinion in the United States, they were both intent on moving forward.
“I thought we were going to change? I didn’t know one way or the other, ”Zuchman said,“ but this was in my blood. I wouldn’t let people treat me like that. “
“I always thought we were right. And I thought we could change things by attracting American consciousness, “Brown said.” I never thought we should leave. “
Despite the dangers, the Freedom Rides were coming and eventually public opinion began to ignite. And as news of the abuse spread, Kennedy was forced into the hands of the administration, according to Arsenault.
“Kennedy was going to his first meeting in Vienna with Nikita Khrushchev and he was embarrassed about it on every front page of the newspapers,” Arsenault said. “People who can’t even sit in front of the bus in what is called the land of freedom.”
The U.S. federal government finally acted to ban segregation on the interstate bus network in November 1961, and Kennedy’s acceptance of civil rights reasons went beyond the realpolitik of the Cold War.
“There is no way in the world that John Kennedy would have achieved the way he did in June 1963, in favor of a full civil rights bill without pilot freedom,” Arsenault said.
“Attitude has a lot to do with change”
As for Zuchman and Brown, they still share their experiences, appearing together in prison and school events, and before a new generation addresses their civil rights issues. So what advice do they have for today’s entrepreneurs?
Brown, 76, acknowledges the desire of some young activists to use more radical methods from their youth, but today, he demands a lighter approach.
“It could be as easy as wrapping your arm around someone. That can be a revolutionary act, depending on where you are, what you’re doing with that person,” Brown said. “So we try to get young people to understand what attitude has to do with what changes.”
At 79, Zuchman is still working to improve the lives of communities of color, he is the executive director of Scan Harbor, a nonprofit that supports nonprofit New York children. But he is reluctant to overdo the success of the Freedom Rides.
“On our 50th anniversary people would say to me, ‘Aren’t you proud of what you’ve achieved?’ And I said, ‘No.’ We had cosmetic success. But I’ve worked in the inner city ever since and I’ve seen things get worse and worse for young African Americans and Latinos, ”she explains.
But he gave a victory: “I think the only thing is to bring young people together across America: whites, African Americans, men, women.” It was a unique moment when we came together as a country. “
Arsenault, however, says the impact of the Freedom Walk was tremendous.
“In addition to revolutionizing the civil rights movement, it changed the tenor of citizen policy in the sixties,” he said, adding that “Freedom Rides are truly becoming a template for all other rights movements.”
[ad_2]
Source link