Freedom Riders Remember.

[MA-Caver]

Even the littlest of us can make a big difference. May not happen at that moment, or a few years but eventually that act of courage and the sacrifice and pain long afterwards allows others to develop their own sense of dignity and self-respect.

Editor's note: This is an excerpt from John Blake's 2004 book "Children of the Movement." The PBS documentary "Freedom Riders," which airs Monday at 9 p.m. ET, features James Zwerg, now 71. Blake interviewed him in 2003. This report contains objectionable language.
(CNN) -- The mob was already waiting for James Zwerg by the time the Greyhound bus eased into the station in Montgomery, Alabama.
Looking out the window, Zwerg could see men gripping baseball bats, chains and clubs. They had sealed off the streets leading to the bus station and chased away news photographers. They didn't want anyone to witness what they were about to do.
Zwerg accepted his worst fear: He was going to die today.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/05/16/Zwerg.freedom.rides/index.html

thanks to Bill M for posting this on his FB page. :asian:

 

[WC_lun]

I watched a PBS program on the Freedom Riders last night. I was moved by thier courage and belief in thier ideals. It seems a simple thing now. Ride a buss through Alabama to Mississpi with people of color sitting in the front and sitting in the same rest area as whites. Many of the Freedom Riders took serious beatings and when Alabama finally decided it wasn't i thier best interest to let that continue, over 300 Freedom Riders spent time in a Mississpi prison for thier trouble. The first 28 Freedom Riders had thier last will and testaments filled out before embarking. These people were heroic in every sense of the word.

 

[Nomad]

Very heroic story of choices made by "insignificant" people that can change the world.

 

[Sukerkin]

What a fantastically powerful tale. All the more potent for being the courage of real people in very real danger who overcame their fears and frailty for something that was more important to them than their own lives.

It is not uncommon for me to be empathetic to others but it is not very often that I am moved so fundamentally by a 'news' story. I was deeply moved as I read that article, all the more so as I think about the 'racial' rift that is opening up again day by day. The bravery of those people, both white and black, who stood up to be counted in those turbulent days is being squandered and that both saddens and angers me.

 

[MA-Caver]

What a fantastically powerful tale. All the more potent for being the courage of real people in very real danger who overcame their fears and frailty for something that was more important to them than their own lives.

It is not uncommon for me to be empathetic to others but it is not very often that I am moved so fundamentally by a 'news' story. I was deeply moved as I read that article, all the more so as I think about the 'racial' rift that is opening up again day by day. The bravery of those people, both white and black, who stood up to be counted in those turbulent days is being squandered and that both saddens and angers me.

I dunno, I remember living in Chattanooga some 25+ years ago and I recall the air of racism still lingering, as well as my grade-school years where it was thick enough to cut with a knife but fading... Right now I can drive through an all black neighborhood without concerns. I get along fine with co-workers and have a few friends... over the years I've become color-blind and I think a lot of other people have too... I see more interracial couples now than before in this area of the south and there's a thicker layer of tolerance.
It's still there and I hear the N-word being said now and again by my white friends and I make a mental note to distance myself from them.
Give it a little more time I think the hatred is fading. And it's part (however small or large) by what the people in the article had braved to do.

 

[Sukerkin]

I think there is a difference in our relative experiences because of our different nationalities, Caver, as well as our relative perceptions of how things are in America. For you live in that place and I just see it on TV.

For me, the drive towards a decline in racism has reversed in the past couple of decades - which is why I noted how saddened I was that the courage of those in the OP was being squandered by those who want to see a division between races.

 

[Flea]

I watched a PBS program on the Freedom Riders last night. I was moved by thier courage and belief in thier ideals. It seems a simple thing now. Ride a buss through Alabama to Mississpi with people of color sitting in the front and sitting in the same rest area as whites. Many of the Freedom Riders took serious beatings and when Alabama finally decided it wasn't i thier best interest to let that continue, over 300 Freedom Riders spent time in a Mississpi prison for thier trouble. The first 28 Freedom Riders had thier last will and testaments filled out before embarking. These people were heroic in every sense of the word.

Absolutely! It probably sounds weird, but one thing that came to me as I watched it was a greater understanding of the practice of ancestor worship. The phenomenal strength and courage of Those Who Came Before, clearing the way so that we may clear the way for our own descendants. The story of the Freedom Riders is one of the clearest illustration of that that I've ever seen.

 

[WC_lun]

Absolutely! It probably sounds weird, but one thing that came to me as I watched it was a greater understanding of the practice of ancestor worship. The phenomenal strength and courage of Those Who Came Before, clearing the way so that we may clear the way for our own descendants. The story of the Freedom Riders is one of the clearest illustration of that that I've ever seen.

So what about those that have ancestors that did the beatings, or enabled them? I think courage, faith, and belief in a better world shoud be celebrated. We must also recognize those things less than postive in our history and understand why those things happen as well. We must also recognize both sides in an issue such as the Freedom Riders are just human. In one case humans rising up to be heroes and in the other humans sinking to our basest emotions. Understanding the actions of both sides will help us keep similiar things from happening in our future.

 

[Flea]

Of course, one of the nice things about ancestor worship is that one can worship selectively. We all have an infinite number of ancestors to choose from who reflect our own values and aspirations.

But I know what you're talking about. Would the descendants of the racists worship them? It's quite possible. After all, we have to remember that a few days does not define who a person is over the course of their entire lives. I think that a measure of compassion is critical for engaging in dialogue and learning from mistakes.