Freedom Summer 08

Tuition Thoughts

2008-06-14T20:07:00.002-04:00

David James here
June 14, 2008

Some of us had some discussion while on the trip about tuition issues at IU South Bend. I promised a "piece." Here HERE is a link to it, my first try at it. Responses to this blog or djames@tiompanalley.com, if you are interested in building on this discussion.

I did the Underground Railroad program at the Charles Black Center "on the Lake" here in South Bend yesterday. I played a black Buffalo Soldier. In addition to my slogan, "Blacks Come In All Colors" that I used to cover my obvious whiteness, I also described the contributions of blacks who settled, and helped others to settle the West. I played the fiddle, and sang "Rally 'Round the Flag," an old Civil War song, in which the refrain, repeated over and over, is "shouting the battle cry of 'freedom'." So I made it that the last word the children heard--about fifty-odd in groups of ten--and sang, was "freedom." More thoughts on the children, their demeanor and knowledge levels on a later post. For now, keep on keepin' on.

Reflection

2008-05-27T12:39:00.002-04:00

So I'm back home and I've had some time to decompress. I haven't posted anyting the whole trip, maybe it's because I was enjoying the journey and the people, maybe it's because I wasn't sure what to say but I can tell you that there will be other posts after this. I loved this trip and the people that experienced it with me. We learned together, we grew together and I hope that we will stay together. I think that it would be really hard not to after sharing something as powerful as this. I hope that everyone got something out of the trip, whether it was what they wanted or not. I got many things out of it, way more than I expected and I'm glad. I still can't believe I'm home, and I'm prepared to leave at the drop of a hat if someone were to say "the trip has been extended we still have another week." I'd be gone. I miss our home on wheels, the bus that became a roaming apartment building where all the tenants shared the same destination but were on different journeys. Tony, our driver, who learned a lot as well and always had a joke will be missed. I think if I play my cards right we're gonna go back to Greenwood, MS and go on an adventure. Good Times... I need everyone to bring it in one more time. 1..2..3...

The Audio CD

2008-05-27T01:48:00.002-04:00

Tuesday, May 27, 1:30AM
David James here

I have re-mastered the Freedom Summer 08 disc, to get rid of some background noise and make all the cuts equal volume. I also have re-done the liner notes to correct some mistakes and make it prettier. I will also email everyone and let them know to pick them up from Dr. T., where they'll be stashed.

Nashville, TN

2008-05-24T00:22:00.003-04:00

The sun was shining from morning til evening on our last day of the tour in Nashville, TN. We began at Fisk University (founded in 1866) and visited the Fisk Chapel where some of the student demonstrations in the 1960s began. We then went to the site of Rev. Kelly Miller's First Baptist Church, which was demolished to make way for a freeway. Despite the long uphill slope, the whole group make it into downtown where we saw the Walgreen's drugstore where some of the sit-ins took place and the steps of the Davidson County Courthouse where Diane Nash asked Mayor Ben West a question that marked the beginning of the end of the apartheid system in Nashville. On this day with some free time, some of us enjoyed the water features, which cooled us off. Lunch was on our own and then we met Mr. John Siegenthaler at the Civil Rights Room of the Nashville Public Library. He told of his life and his experiences with the Freedom Riders. The evening ended with a quick stop at Vanderbilt University and dinner at the Calypso restaurant. I am grateful to have had such a great group of students and I thank you for making the organizing of this trip worthwhile. I look forward to your journals and any additions to the blog.

PathFinder award for Freedom Summer 08

2008-05-23T21:16:00.002-04:00

I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE THE SOUTH! okay now that I let everyone know where I'm coming from on that one haha. I am not kidding the first thing I am doing when I get back is finding out how to wrangle myself into a Montgomery high school U.S. history classroom. I love it down here and Alabama is so pretty. I want to live there, specifically Montgomery. I had the most fun exploring that city at night despite a cop car at every other block haha. Montgomery was some good times for me. The bus has become like a second home to me. I'm going to miss Tony our bus driver and all his smart cracks and amazing bus driving abilities. But I'm not here to talk about what I'm going to miss. I just wanted to post a blog from Nashville and talk about the beautiful southern towns we have visited and the amazing southern people. There was this one guy at the breakfast in our hotel in Montgomery who was telling us he met a guy who asked him if they were shoes in Alabama. I was dying until I realized he was serious. I was like "Dang, I know people joke about being slow and southern but I didn't think people actually thought southerners are that dumb and uncultivated" For goodness sake this is a region that was its own country for 4 years I'd imagine there would be quite a few intelligent and shoe wearing folk about. Oh well thats why I am going to teach so there will be less ignorant people. I really encourage everyone to come down south and take a tour of something, anything. I guarentee you'll find some history that will intrigue people of all sorts of interests. I'm planning a trip to Montgomery for spring break next year. Anyone wanna come with?

Birmingham, AL

2008-05-22T23:00:00.006-04:00

Today we went to Kelly Ingram Park in Birmingham and toured the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, an excellent civil rights museum, which also contains the history of race and labor relations in Birmingham. I was especially impressed with the oral history collection which can be accessed by touch screens in the resource room. The art gallery also added another beautiful dimension to the tour.

Another phase of the movement was the Freedom Rides, which came to Birmingham in 1961. After we finished at the museum, Katherine Burke-Brooks met us and talked about her experiences as a Freedom Rider. She shared many details that made her experience vivid to us. She also spoke of her work with Robert F. Williams, a little-known, but very interesting NAACP leader in North Carolina, who championed self-defense. We wished we could have had more time with her.

We also visited the 16th Baptist Church, which was the organizing center for the demonstrations where thousands of children marched out into Kelly Ingam Park. They were met with dogs and fire hoses and the children are memorialized in that park. So are the four little girls who were killing by the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist church. We went to the photography studio and art gallery of Chris McNair, the father of one of those girls, Denise McNair. She will not be forgotten because of the beautiful photographs of her father and the delicious food catered by her sister Kimberly Brock. We at dinner at the studio and then rode on to Nashville, Tennessee. Mr. Tony Vaughn, our bus driver has driven faithfully and skillfully through these twisting, turning southern roads and even up to the hotel high above Birmingham, where we watched an amazing sunset. Thank you Mr. Tony!

Montgomery, Alabama and Albany, Georgia

2008-05-21T23:49:00.005-04:00

After visiting Brick-A-Day, where we photographed the Freedom Summer 2004 brick, we found the modern-day movement alive at the Southern Poverty Law Center. In addition to their moving Civil Rights Memorial sculpure and museum, they are doing important work today, defending Mexican guest workers and so much more. See their website and considering joining them http://www.splcenter.org/index.jsp

I am tired, but I wanted to post of few photos of Montgomery. We met Arlam Carr, Jr., son of Mrs. Johnnie Carr, who passed away this year. We remember her and are grateful her son is carrying on her tradition of meeting with Freedom Summer classes.

We also had reports on the steps of the capitol and on the Freedom Riders. In the evening we crowded into my room and shared the parts of the trip that have made the greatest impact on us.

In Albany, GA today, we heard Rutha Harris and Charles Sherrod. Ms. Harris's singing was as incredible as ever and Mr. Sherrod gave more good insights into organizing and into nonviolence training.

Tonight we have arrived safely in Birmingham, AL, just in time to watch the sunset over the city from the hotel's garden terrace. I am tired, but happy.

-Dr. T

Take Off Your Thirsty Boots and Stay for a While. . .

2008-05-20T01:48:00.007-04:00

Tuesday, 1AM, May 20. David James here.

These photos are described below.

Thirsty Boots, by Eric Andersen, is the song of the day for me. HERE is my version of it, recorded in the motel room here in Montgomery, while the emotion is still fresh in my mind, on the mighty Macintosh. We’ll dedicate this to all my Freedom Summer friends, but especially to Lola, who had a hard day. it really epitomizes my love for those people of yesterday who did what they did for us. Some of them are still alive; this is also for the love of them. Here's the words:

1 You've long been on the open road, you've been sleeping in the rain,
From dirty words and muddy cells your clothes are smeared and stained,
But the dirty words and muddy cells will soon be hid in shame
So only stop to rest yourself ‘til you are off again

Chorus:

So take off your thirsty boots and stay for a while,
Your feet are hot and weary, from a dusty mile,
And maybe I can make you laugh, maybe I can try,
I'm just looking for the evening, and the morning in your eye.

2 So tell me of the ones you saw as far as you could see
Across the plain from field to town a-marching to be free
And of the rusted prison gates that tumbled by degree
Like laughing children, one by one, they look like you and me [ch]

3 I know you are no stranger down the crooked rainbow trails
From dancing cliff-edged shattered sills of slandered, shackled jails
For the voices drift up from below as the walls they're being scaled
Yes, all of this, and more, my friend, your song shall not be failed. [ch]

Yesterday we drove the route of the Selma to Montgomery March, the third try, on March 21, 1965. We stopped by Viola Liuzzo's memorial. I remember her murder from when I was a young boy.

Yesterday (Sunday, May 18) we ended our day’s journey at the 1st Baptist “Brick-a-day” Church on North Ripley Street in Montgomery. Now, I wrote this whole bit, Friday, about how I was already missing Mississippi. Little did I (we) know the reception in store at the Brick-a-day Church. [Now, for them what ain’t in the know, this church was led from 1952-1961 by Ralph David Abernathy. It dates back to 1867. It burned down, and the pastor, Andrew Stokes built it by exhorting his flock to bring one brick each day for the new building, hence the nickname.] So we walk into this place—I’m missing Mississippi, right—and there on either side of the pulpit are movie screens with the I.U. South Bend crest (photo #2), and “welcome.” The church is full of people there for US, and for the next three hors we get a program from Pastor E. Baxter Morris, Dot Posey Jones (hopefully photo #3), an old timer, talking about the movement and all the great figures, including E.D. Nixon (read about HIM)—more about her later—history of the church by Karen Pugh (#3), then a long and captivating address by Montgomery’s “beloved couple,” the Reverend Bob and Jeannie Graetz (photo #4), 80 years of age and still (nonviolently) kicking ass. Oh, but that wasn’t the end children! Mrs. Posey-Jones sat down at the piano, D.K. Frizette (I hope I’ve got his name right, if not someone tell me) shepherds the combined Children’s (photo # 1) (and speakinawhich, those children were mighty well behaved during the service), Youth, and Adult Choirs to the choir balcony in the front of the church, and they proceed to do two numbers. HERE is a link to my RESOURCE PAGE where they are. (Look for 5/18 Keep Hope Alive, and Go Ye Now In Peace). If you can, listen on earphones and/or play them LOUD. I recorded them on a tiny digital machine 4”x 1”. Had I known what was in store, I would have rigged up the whole rutabaga, but this recording will suffice.
I’m telling you, I was struck speechless, thunderstruck, tears coursing, awestricken, dumbstruck, you name it. Only two other times in my crabby-auld-61-year life has that happened in such a setting. The first was when I was in seventh grade, and my eighth grade sister and the St. Thomas Moore elementary school choir sang the first harmony number they had ever worked up , with their beautiful children’s’ voices I thought I was listening to angels sing. The second was in 3rd Baptist Church in South Bend in 1984, during the Jesse Jackson for President campaign when we had a Jesse rally, and this five-man, with four-piece band group did a spiritual set that so rocked the house that women were fainting. Oh, brothers and sisters, I almost got religion that day. But Sunday, May 18 has taken the cake for all time. Listen to the MP3s from the link above. Simple lyric line: in the first, “keep hope alive got to keep hope alive.” In the second, “Go Ye Now in Peace.”

[Now, dad-gummit! I swore when I started out tonight I wasn’t going to write forever and I’m not. I HAVE to get to bed, I was nodding out this afternoon at the Rosa Parks Museum. So I’m going to quit writing, post this thing and figure out how to do the HTML all over again, and go to bed. Nitey-night. Kim and Ethan I love you.]

Beautiful Sunday

2008-05-19T00:09:00.003-04:00

The marchers in 1965 endured Bloody Sunday. Thanks to them and the churches who supported the movement, we experienced a Beautiful Sunday with a church service that some of us attended at Brown Chapel A.M.E., and a program in the afternoon by First Baptist or "Brick a Day" church in Montgomery, AL. I enjoyed singing "Sweet Hour of Prayer" in the morning and listening to the singing of "Keep Hope Alive" and a Peace song sung by the children's choir at Brick a Day. We were astonished and humbled by the warm welcome we received at Brick A Day, where we were honored guests for a special program on Rev. Graetz's 80th birthday. Thank you Rev. James Jackson, Mrs. Dorothy Posey-Jones and Pastor E. Baxter Morris for welcoming us.

Freedom Comin' and It Won't Be Long

2008-05-18T13:13:00.005-04:00

Sunday, May 18
David James here

Here is a link to my Freedom Summer '08 Resource Page, entitled Freedom Summer 08 Miscellany, where I hope to put lots more stuff. But for now, on the page are MP3s of Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round, Ain't Scared of Nobody 'Cause I Want My Freedom, Freedom Calypso Chant, and Been Down Into the South.

Also on the site is the sheet music for Been Down Into the South, Freedom, Freedom Rider, I'm Gonna Do What the Spirit Says Do, and Woke Up This Morning With My Mind on Freedom.

This is what I've been doing instead of going to church in Selma this morning. Doing this for my friends is my way of "going to church."
Yesterday we marched the path of the 1965 March 7 "Bloody Sunday" March, from Brown Chapel to over the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where the marchers under the leadership of John Lewis and Hosea Williams got the hell beat out of them by Alabama troopers and "posse." The day started out with the successful acquisition of a digital recorder to replace my mini-disc machine that started skipping while playing back material I had recorded. I'll attend to that when I get back to South Bend, and try to rescue the material off the discs. There was a Radio Shack (Black owned, and she knew her stuff) right by the Pettus Bridge; couldn't be beat. While there I got some blank CDs to surprise everyone today with a recording of the four Freedom Songs that you who are not on this trip can hear on the Resource Page (link above).
The real phenomenon of the day was the Selma tour with civil rights Veteran Joanne Bland. She was eight years old when she went on the first '65 march, and has been "in it" ever since. She it was who started the National Voting Rights Museum on Water Ave. in sight of the bridge.
Thanks Les Lamon and Monica Tetzlaf for connecting us with this astounding person. She took us through the "projects," where she was iving then, virtually unchanged since '65; she talked to us on the steps of the Brown Chapel, conducted us through the Voting Rights Museum, and sent us two-by-two over the Edmund Pettus Bridge, singing all the way over. You know, every time I write on this blasted blog about a person whom we've met, I describe one or another amazing person we have met. This is not starry-eyed idealism, children, I am sixty-one years old and I hope able to spot a winner when I meet one. These people are winners. They won their fights by being the people they are, and doing things the right way. I see no monument to "Bull" Connor or Sheriff Clark, but there's one to Amelia Boynton, whom he beat nearly to death; there's one to John Lewis, and there's one to Hosea Williams. Joanne Bland is a walking monument. You'll be lucky to meet her and hear her talk. try and listen to the audio files that will be at the IUSB Civil Rights Heritage Center. She's "dead on."
There was one particularly interesting project of the Voting Rights Museum that I must comment on. To pariphrase our guide, the place was dedicated to remembering and gathering the histories of the "forgotton people" of the Selma movement--the ordinary people who marched, cooked for and sheltered the marchers, made signs gave medical treatment--were "there" in one way or another. There's a whole wall of messages from some of these people, and I'll try to put up a photograph of a couple of these messages for you maybe this evening. This kind of thing is what I'd love to see happen to the Natatorium project in South Bend.
Five of us got a glimpse of what it was like to be captured and sent into slavery from Africa, down the street from the Voting Rights Museum at the Civil War and Slavery Museum. Along with some older tourists, we were made to hang our heads and blindly obey, as we were herded into a boat for our journey to the south and terrorized by slave masters. These friends were very theatrical and dramatic, and have clearly accomplished a lot with a very low budget. It was a real "experience."
All right, enough for now. We will soon shove off for Montgomery and, I am sure, some more amazing experiences. Lemme try and get a photo or two up, one of us at the Brown Chapel, and maybe one of the messages on the wall of the remembrance in the VRM. If you see them at the top of this post, you'll know I've been successfully
Yours Truly, still in the fight
David James

A day to sleep in but I'm a morning person really

2008-05-18T08:35:00.002-04:00

or I just suffer from insomnia. I really haven't been sleeping well this last month or so and its beginning to take its toll on me. Oh well I'll rest when I am dead as the song goes. Yesterday was a surreal experience for me. We had the pleasure of walking around Selma Alabama with Ms. Joann Bland who was 8 years old when she participated in the march from Selma to Montgomery on Sunday March 7th. Her testimony about what she saw and heard was moving. It gave me a chilling mental picture that I wish wasn't as real as my mind made it. I woke up choking from one nightmare as if the tear gas was actually in my room. I constantly am thinking to myself that what these people experienced and went through all for freedoms that should have been giving willingly and without a fight is absolutely incredible. And to do it in a non-violent way, I am constantly at a war with myself and this world and unfortunate as it is to say to be truthful my anger fuels me most of the time. Anger is a powerful force but I think the movement's choice of love and gentleness and peace is as close to invincible as one comes to outside of the comic books. Walking over the Bridge yesterday I completely let go of my fear of man-made heights which has plagued me since I was little and I just shut my eyes and let the voices of those around me bring me to a time called 1965. My heart skipped a few beats as we made it to the apex of the bridge and I looked down. It was as if the sunlight was playing a trick on me but I swore for a flash I saw the police men and reporters and the cars and the bystanders and in me I felt scared. That was only for a moment though. Once we got down to the bottom Dane gave a bomb oral report on John Lewis right beside the memorial they have there and Dr.T gave us some time to explore the park which they had on the side of the bridge. I loved that part. They had a few paths but I had more fun wandering of into the woods as I always do. I made a way down to the Alabama river and soaked my feet in it for a moment or two before tramping off to see what else I could see. I could of spent all day there once I found a rock laying in the sunlight and which I sat and wrote a few reflections down. Eventually we were forced back on the bus but than we got to go to the Civil War and Slavery museum. That was so cool and I think if more people went they would of enjoyed it just as much. A lot of people on this trip keep talking about America and how we are to proud of a history that is not very flattering and that they really aren't proud of America and just stuff like that. I've studied one of America's most controversial times since I was real young and it never occurred to me not to be proud of my country because of this. I mean no country is perfect just like no person is perfect. I can imagine that the Germans still have some national sense of pride even after WWII and England is certainly proud of England even though its colonial grip left many countries screwed in the end. I do agree that America has become more arrogant which is the ugly sister of pride but I don't believe that is any reason for me to not like this country. Our ancestors have made bad decisions and have done horrible things, let us learn from that and keep from repeating their mistakes and build an America that future generations can be proud about. Well I'm going to go try that sleep thing now or maybe go for a run. Take Care

More Selma Pics

2008-05-18T02:28:00.001-04:00

What would the Movement be without love?

2008-05-17T23:31:00.005-04:00

Many of the veterans in the Civil Rights Movement adopted non-violence as a strategy in the battle for voting rights and desegration. Those who were most affected by the non-violent Movement, such as John Lewis, for example, described non-violence as a way of life, beyond any mere strategy to win the attention of a sympathetic audience. Lewis built the rest of his life around the principles of non-violence; Satyagraha is one of those principles--steadfastness of truth--and redemptive suffering, the idea that we are made pure through pain. Possibly the most affective principle is that of agape love, which Dr. T spoke of a couple of posts ago.

Unconditional love. A love that continues no matter how much a person is hurt by another. The veterans of the Civil Rights Movement who adopted the principles of non-violence as a life style understood that love would be the catalyst for change. Love for our enemies is a great sacrifice in that we must be willing to sacrifice some of our own pride for the sake of unity. Unconditional love seems impractical in this day when too many of us must do what we have to do to "get ours."

While it seems that unconditional love is an impossibility at times, imagine what the non-violent brothers and sisters must have experienced as they faced their enemies and they were beaten repeatedly by the very same people the veterans intended to win over with love. Yet they deliberately and intentionally met their attackers as they knew it was necessary for the nation to see the reality of racism and to turn their attackers into brothers.

This must have taken unbelievable strength. It is impossible in the minds of many of us today to imagine the kind of courage it takes to achieve this kind of love for those who hate us. It is hard enough for many us to love one another. It seems that it only takes one moment of weakness to destroy a friendship. Without the possibility of forgiveness, especially when it is sought by the offending party, then the relationship is superficial. Each person would not willing to be themselves, for fear that the friendship would end in the wake of an exhorting word or angry look or even a difference in opinion. The relationship would exist only on a superficial level and very little or no growth would result between its members.

The movement would have been impossible if the veterans were only willing to hold superficial relationships. The threat of death would easily crumble the fight for justice and reduce the battlecry for freedom to a barely audible whisper. If those who worked in the Movement were not willing to be real in the relationships they had with each other, why in the world would the rest of America care about the ideals they were risking their lives for?

"That's all I have to say about that..."

2008-05-17T22:57:00.004-04:00

Selma, AL

43 years ago, on March 7, marchers began the day preparing to travel by foot to Montgomery, the Capitol, to protest the killing of Jimmy Lee Jackson and to demand voting rights. Sheriff Jim Clark and his posse awaited them at the foot of the Emund Pettus Bridge--on the only route out of Selma. As the marchers, led by John Lewis and Hosea Williams, crested the bridge, the first image they saw was that of State Troopers, many on horseback, who formed a wide crescent at the foot of the bridge. The horror that the marchers felt at the moment of attack by the troopers is unimaginable. Even as Ms. Joanne Bland described her experience as a 12 year old, we could feel the pain and the fear she experienced. No one can take that away from her, it is hers forever, and she must deal with it every day as Selma is her home where the Edmund Pettus Bridge looms over the center of this small town.

The Freedom Summer 08 class marched over this bride as part of her tour. The tension and emotion universally affected the students as they reached they themselves crested the Bridge and peared over to the foot of the Bridge where Clark's posse met the original marchers. This experience is one I am sure they will never forget as I have not been able to myself.

Selma

2008-05-17T22:15:00.005-04:00

Joanne Bland and the women of Selma are on my mind today. We had a wonderful tour from Ms. Bland, who had a story at every corner during our walking tour. Kris is featured in two photos. One is a serious photo at the marker for Rev. James Reeb, a Unitarian minister who was killed while supporting the movement. I send this out to our friend Dale Gibson, also a Unitarian, who spoke to us about the South Bend movement before we left. We remembered him and also Jimmy Lee Jackson, who was killed at a voting rights march in Marion, Alabama, which we passed on the way to Selma yesterday. The other photo of Kris shows him hamming it up in the Towns family restaurant with great graffiti style art on the wall.

We visited the Voting Rights Museum and walked over the Edmund Pettus bridge, hand in hand. Ms. Bland, who walked over the bridge on Bloody Sunday in 1965, chose Dane to be John Lewis and Shenaa to be Hosea Williams. We often hear about them, but not so often the women of the movement. Today we were privileged to hear from Ms. Bland, who told us of her grandmother who took her to civil rights meetings in the 1960s. I'm also remembering Amelia Boynton, a voting rights activist who was active with her husband, Samuel Boynton in the 1930s right through the 1960s and beyond. There is a room in the Voting Rights Museum set aside for the women, black and white, who fought for their voting rights. Cassandra posed for a beautiful photo there. Another woman of Freedom Summer 2008, Liz stood next to the window in the museum that looks out onto the Edmund Pettus bridge.

Couple More...

2008-05-17T02:48:00.005-04:00

Faith in the Photos

2008-05-17T02:17:00.002-04:00

Here are some pictures...finally

2008-05-17T01:19:00.003-04:00

Memphis is now a cherished memory for us, this picture is fun as it features the people I am growing to love and respect deeply.

Today, in Jackson, we visited the office of NAACP
Field Secretary and martyr, Medgar Evers. Just
a poignant reminder that 45 years ago today,
Medgar Evers went to work, not knowing that
he had a mere 27 days left to live on this earth.

There is so much fun in this group but the most enjoyment I
get (and will never forget) is the joy on their faces as they are
affected by courageous veterans such as Hollis Watkins.

Been Down into the South

2008-05-16T23:40:00.005-04:00

Friday, May 16, 08
David James here

Photograph by Sara Jane Lowe, of the crowd of us singing in Hollis Watkins's office. See below to listen to the song.

When I was growing up, and in the '60s, or on through my activist life, I'm not sure I would ever have said I miss Mississippi. The place held for me the image of too much fear, too much baggage of murder, racism, and you-name-it all around hell for progressive Blacks and whites. This evening, in Selma, Alabama, I can honestly say I ALREADY MISS MISSISSIPPI!

It has wormed its way into my heart. I love the people we met. I love the friends we made. I'd love to go back again. Today, former Governor William Winter said it was a new day in Mississippi, and he was proud of the race relations, proud of how much the political system in Mississippi has opened up and become more reflective of the racial and class population demographics. Of course the state is still dreadfully poor, but at least you've a start when people of the quality of those we have met are holding office and planning for the state's future.

This morning we covered a march route followed by Jackson State University students and others after the June ’63 murder of Medgar Evers. We spent some time at the Masonic Temple/NAACP office just beyond the university, where Medgar worked and where his funeral was held, then marched—or more properly put for our group—strode, strung-straggled toward the State Capitol, passing by the very important COFO—Council of Federated Organizations—office on Lynch Street.

We drove—or rather Tony drove and we rode—to the Southern Echo office, where two—at least—very skilled activists from the SNCC/CORE days are still at work doing leadership training for indigenous activists, and other great work in Mississippi. Their home page is: http://www.southernecho.org/
check 'em out.

Hero #1: Jimmy Travis: Has transformed his activities from the civil rights movement to the human rights movement and HIV-AIDS education.

Hero #2: Hollis Watkins – Says, communicate with people, if it’s about sharing it’s about life experience – cause a positive experience to make the person you’re communicating with take one step beyond where they are to make the world a better place. In order to do that we have to share our life experiences.

In answer to Dane’s “most important issue question” [Dane has been asking everyone we have interviewed what he or she thought were the most important issues in which the young people of today should be involved] – Watkins answer was the issue they [the activists of today] define for themselves. Determine what you (they) want to start with – find someone else who’s interested and move the process. See how it has the interconnections with the other important issues.

Jimmy Travis’s answer – come back to Mississippi in march to the conference, last one was Mar. 27-29, 2008 – they will have the DVDs of presentations and workshops of this last one available through Hollis Watkins and Southern Echo.

Then the fun began in earnest. Mr. Watkins feels the singing is very important to the movement, so we sang, as an opener, Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round. He came back with the SNCC adaptation of Harry Belafonte’s Banana Boat Song, Freedom Coming and It Won’t Be Long. Then he taught us one I have not heard before, Been Down Into the South. I had the good fortune of recording it (and having no glitches) so HERE it is if you are interested, right from the conference room of Southern Echo! Hollis Watkins, Jimmy Travis and the Freedom Summer 08 Singing Chorus (that is, all of us). That's what we're doing in the

We left the Southern Echo office and drove to Schimmel’s Restaurant in Jackson where we had a wonderful lunch (best coffee—besides mine—that I’ve had in a long time) and an encounter with former Governor of Mississippi, William Winter.

The Measure of our Days: Writings of William F. Winter. Ed. by Andrew P. Mullins, Jr.

The Governor lists among his most important accomplishments that he worked for a strong bi-racial coalition from '65 forward until '79 when he gained the governorship. He is proudest of his work for education – he established full day kindergarten in Mississippi. “Break the cycle of cultural deprivation . . . get the children prepared intellectually and physically . . . to absorb the knowledge. We have to attract more of our best and brightest to the classroom and give them support in the classroom to transform the social background of the children.”

The Governor described his political career in the Mississippi legislature as a “moderate” who managed to avoid being run out of the state during the civil rights era, and later during his tenure as governor founded an institute for racial reconciliation. The bus has been buzzing with controversy since, over whether he should be judged for not speaking out unequivocally during that time. But he maintained that he swallowed a lot in order to retain his political career and eventually become able to do what he wanted, what he thought was right. He described a process whereby the virulent racists would box he and other moderates in a corner where they were forced to support segregationist programs or expose themselves, and be run out of office.

He said, of those who fled the cities and established private schools, “People remove themselves from the opportunity to associate with people who are different from them.” Nicely put. “If Obama can be elected it will change the whole paradigm of race relations in the United States.”

"Well, have you been to the jail?"

2008-05-16T23:34:00.006-04:00

Well, have you been to the jail?

Certainly, Lord,

Certainly, certainly, certainly, Lord!

These are the words to a Freedom Song and we have now seen several jail cells on this trip. Mohatma Gandhi's strategy was to fill the jail cells of India with those who had committed civil disobedience to show their dissatisfaction with the colonial system. The civil rights movement sought to fill the jails too, with those who violated segregation laws and orders not to peacefully assemble, etc. Every civil rights movement leader is proud of his or her time in jail during the movement. As Hollis Watkins said today, he was "blessed with the opportunity to go to jail" during the time of the sit-ins in Jackson, Mississippi. We have seen a jail and a prison on this trip and replicas of jail cells in civil rights museums. We were also invited by an African American sheriff to tour the Indianola police station and the white deputy took our picture. Dane playfully took my mug shot inside the station. A lot has changed in Mississippi. I was not blessed with the opportunity to go to jail for obeying a higher law as Martin Luther King did in Birmingham and as Hollis Watkins did in Jackson. But I was blessed with being able to meet Hollis Watkins, now for the third time, and to bring a wonderful group of IU South Bend students to him. Been down into the South? Certainly, certainly, certainly, Lord.

Real Love

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You give me love, love, love, crazy love. What is love? Diane Nash, former SNCC organizer and civil rights goddess, gave us the word Agape when she described the soul force that powered the Civil Rights movement. I feel that greater love, that love of God that is also love of neighbor (and self) in the Civil Rights Movement veterans we meet. They are powerful. They overcame fear because of anger at injustice, but also for a greater love, and they invite us, by their example, to do the same. Charles McLaurin, Margaret Kibbee, Margaret Block, David Jordan, L.C. Dorsey, Charles Evers, Hollis Watkins, and Jimmy Travis. Thank you. I especially felt this spiritual power today with Hollis Watkins. He overcame fear at Parchman prison and he works today, so many years later, to carry on the legacy of the civil rights movement to us and to young people throughout the South, teaching them the organizing tools to tackle the issues in their communities, issues like lack of investment in education and environmental racism and classism. William Winter is not a Civil Rights Movement veteran, but his Institute for Racial Reconciliation is part of the work of love too, 'cause we can't move on without truth and reconconciliation, otherwise known as forgiveness. His holding up of his grandchildren's integrated public school classroom in present-day Oxford, Mississippi, with quality public education, participated in by all classes and races, is part of Medgar's dream, of King's dream. Keep the faith, brothers and sisters. There is a greater Love.

-Dr. T

Ticking away...SPOONING!

2008-05-16T23:10:00.004-04:00

I'm sitting in my hotel room right now in Selma just relaxing. The last two days have been go go go and anytime for rest has been spent exploring. Yesterday we met David Jordan who is a Senator in the state of Mississippi and the Mayor of Greenwood. I wish we could of explored downtown some but we had to head off to Jackson for an appointment with Charles Evers and to go tour the Medgar Evers house. It was soo sad as we were walking down the street we saw a bunch of dogs playing in an what looked to be an abandoned house and one had a broken leg so Dane used my phone to get in touch with animal control and when they got there they told us that the mama dog had had her leg broken for seven years and they call her hop-a-long. Its like WTHeck why can't someone take care of her! I hate animal abuse. Hmmm I guess I should get back to Freedom Summer stuff. Meeting Mr. Evers was a very interesting guy and I thought it was cool he let us say stuff on the air. We were almost late to our dinner place but it turned out okay because our speaker was late too. Once we checked into the hotel for the evening and I unsuccessfully tried to find Grey's, Justine, Calvin and I decided to go to downtown Jackson. Yea its a bit more of a walk than the map lead me to believe. Once we made it back I passed out and woke up in time for us to head out and do a march to the NAACP offices. For once my quirky habit of always having a map came in handy when we started going the wrong direction but we got turned around and made it on time. Afterwards a group of us marched/ran to the old state capitol to complete the original marchers path. That was fun than we went and got to meet/sing with Jimmy Travis and Hollis Watkins. For lunch we had the honor of dining with former Governor Willie Winter who was really fun to talk with. I really wish I could become a politician but too many obstacles for me to overcome. Well I'm really exhausted and need some spoooning so Night!

Katie and Cassandra (aka spoon) here...

2008-05-16T21:47:00.001-04:00

We are sitting here waiting here in Selma Mississippi, we are just reflecting on our day, getting ready to get some food. We have been talking about our meeting with the former Governor of MS, while we were in Jackson. He had some inspiring things to say about his racial reconciliation work and civil rights movement teaching. So ya, we are planning a massive spooning party on campus as soon as we get back just to give everyone a heads up!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PEACE....lol......spoon and katie......

Everybody's Got Pictures...

2008-05-16T02:29:00.002-04:00

but not me.... For the second time in two years, I have the privilege to talk to my heroes. Real people telling real stories of organizing scared people living in the South to vote. These organizers never left anyone behind; once Charles McLaurin walked into a town for the first time to begin organizing the people there, he was determined to work until the work was done and Medgar Evers' dream was realized. Today his work continues but in a different form. His time is spent talking to students, sharing his life and laying it all down for us to pick up and organize in our communities, working for the change needed today.

The work for the Civil Rights veterans always included, every day--every waking moment, the fear of death. In Mississippi, examples of raw courage are embodied in known figures such as Medgar Evers but also in those organizers and civil rights workers who do not have a street named after them but are every bit the heroes as the martyr from Jackson. We consider the motivation for the actions of those workers, even white students who journeyed away from the comfort of their homes to the gritty South to register voters. We on this trip wonder why the volunteers would continue to work even after the disappearance of the three workers as Freedom Summer 1964. How could one do the work of the Civil Rights Movement when, on any given day, any given worker could be targeted for a savage example of Southern white hatred?

The only possible answer I can provide is that the veterans, the tireless workers of the Movement possessed the DREAM. They did the work to achieve Medgar's Dream. They were active in pursuing voters to gain political and, ultimately, economic power in Missississppi. The testimony of their actions in the face of very tangible fear demonstrate their understanding that they are just the worker, a body, a resource. Southern Hate can kill the body but IT CANNOT KILL THE DREAM.

They dream is still not dead. There is a new Movement in the air...

Photos from Wednesday May 14, 08

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David James here with some photos:

This is the grave site of Fannie Lou Hamer, one of my civil rights heroes, and her husband Perry "Pap" Hamer in Ruleville. That jail was tiny. It was a holding cell in Drew, MS where Charles McLaurin and 13 others (!) were stashed overnight by the Sunflower County cops. We figured it to be about 15 feet by maybe 25 feet, but it was divided into three cells. The group photo, also from Ruleville, is of us at the Sunflower County Freedom Project in Ruleville, with high schoo student program members. It's to better prepare them for college. More in yesterday's post.