Montgomery, Alabama

by Mark | Oct 31, 2011 | Pulled Back

On the next road from Washington, D.C., to New Orleans, leading through Montgomery, Alabama, we relived the powerful history that brought us a step closer to a more perfect union. It was a short but impressionable stop in the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement.

Civil Rights Memorial located at the Southern Poverty Law Center

We started at the Civil Rights Memorial located at the Southern Poverty Law Center in walking distance of many historical landmarks of that era. The memorial, interestingly enough, was designed by Maya Lin who also designed the Washington D.C. Vietnam Memorial.

In 1981, when she was 21,  her entry for the Vietnam Memorial was chosen out of a field of 1,421 submissions in a design competition open to all Americans. At 28, she was asked to design the Civil Rights Memorial. The water-washed surface of the table is inscribed with the names of 40 people who died in the struggle for civil rights between 1955 and 1968, as well as with landmark events of the period. The water motif  was inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.’s well-known paraphrase of Amos 5:24 – We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. Powerful words that spoke to long pent up feelings.

Inside the memorial, the displays tell the stories of the 40 who died and speak to injustices throughout the world.

One of the 40 who took sides …

March 25, 1965 · Selma Highway, Alabama
“Viola Gregg Liuzzo, a housewife and mother  from Detroit, drove alone to Alabama to help with the Selma march after seeing televised reports of the attack at the Edmund Pettus Bridge. She was driving marchers back to Selma from Montgomery when she was shot and killed by a Klansman in a passing car.”

Viola’s story gets more interesting. Among the murderers in the car was an FBI employee, Gary Rowe (undercover), who was indicted in 1978 and tried for his involvement in the murder.The first trial ended in a hung jury, and the second trial ended in his acquittal. The FBI under J. Edgar Hoover played a large role in attacking and undermining the Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King Jr. in particular as detailed in Final Report of the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations. Some believe Hoover was instrumental in the assassination.

The events of Bloody Sunday, the culmination of the three Selma to Montgomery marches, were broadcast on national television including the attack dogs, beatings and fire hoses. The violence unleashed on marchers was under the direction of  Theophilus Eugene “Bull” Connor who came to symbolize the murders, hangings and sheer brutality that was brought to bear against those seeking basic civil liberties and social justice.

The national attention on the Civil Rights Movement forced Americans to come to terms with the legal and moral issues and culminated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and a year later, the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Difficult as it is to believe and understand, it took 100 years after the end of the Civil War to encode  basic civil rights that were denied to Blacks in much of the South.

Leaving the Civil Rights Memorial, we walked to the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church where Dr. Martin Luther King pastored from 1954-1960.

Although many Black churches were burned and bombed during the movement, including the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham on Sunday, September 15, 1963, where four girls were killed, the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church was spared. Makes one wonder about divine intervention. A view inside the church… the pews are handmade and date to the 19th century.

Ironically enough, from King’s office window he had a view of the Alabama State Capitol Building which served as the first political capitol of the Confederate States of America in 1861, before it was moved to Richmond, Virginia. In the Senate Chamber the Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States was drawn up by the Montgomery Convention on February 4, 1861. The convention also adopted the Permanent Constitution here on March 11, 1861. Over 100 years later the third Selma to Montgomery march ended at the front steps of the same building.

While Montgomery served as the first Capitol of the Confederate States of America, the newly elected Jefferson Davis lived in the first White House of the Confederacy.

With time running short we missed the Rosa Parks Museum dedicated to the woman who refused to give up her seat for a white man, an act that sparked the infamous Montgomery Bus Boycott. Parks eventually received many honors including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal and a posthumous statue in the United States Capitol’s National Statuary Hall. At her death in 2005 she was granted the honor of lying in honor at the Capitol Rotunda.

We left Montgomery all too soon, leaving much more to see and do. For the next few hours driving on the next road, we talked about all that we had seen and what can be done to participate in the search  for social justice. The work of the Southern Poverty Law Center is integral to that effort. Their mission: “The Southern Poverty Law Center is dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry, and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of our society” is one that most of us can support.

As we traveled farther down the next road, we discussed the fact that perhaps we are witnessing the growth of a new movement, one seeking economic justice. While the Occupy Wall Street Movement continues to spread across the nation and throughout the world, we begin to consider the issues of poverty, health care, hunger, gross inequalities in wealth and all that entails for our citizens but also for the world. Economic justice may be the central moral question of our day.

The march to a more perfect union never stops. But after witnessing the painful civil rights history, it is worth considering that there must be a way to speed up the pace.

This post ends with a photo from Walden Pond and a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson…

Photo of Walden Pond by Kelly  (quote inserted)

Occupy Wall Street, Sunday October 16, 2011

by Mark | Oct 19, 2011 | Pulled Back

“The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.”

Thomas Jefferson

Jefferson Memorial

It seems a spark has been lit spreading open rebellion against the greed and corruption in the corporate world and its control of the political process. The movement started in Zuccotti Park (formerly Liberty Plaza) and spread like a chain letter to over a 100 U.S. cities and worldwide. Early on the movement was met with skepticism and “dirty hippie” epitaphs but now garners over 52 percent approval from those following the story closely. In New York City that number approaches two-thirds. Given the shoddy corporate media coverage, as more people begin to follow this story closely, these numbers are sure to grow.

We might have a movement, or as Jefferson suggested an attention to public affairs. Having spent a few days here in Washington D.C. attending October 2011 and Occupy DC, a bus trip to New York City to get a first-hand view of the birth of the movement seemed important.

Freedom Plaza, Washington D.C.

Watching the distorted news coverage of Occupy Wall Street that seemed to purposefully paint a negative image of the occupy movement, I was surprised by the size of the location and scope of activity.

Liberty Plaza aka Zuccotti Park

What I saw in Zuccotti Park  was much different than what the mainstream media portrayed and 180 degrees from right-wing Fox News coverage. If I were part of the 1% rather than the 99%, I would be mildly concerned. While barely a month in the making, these people have entrenched impressive organizational strides. They are discussing serious issues searching for a consensus that can jell into a platform for radical change in our politics and society. These people are for real.

Some of the impressive infrastructures I noticed were basic but well implemented like a kitchen and pantry…

Food Pantry

Kitchen

A well stocked “People’s Library” started by Betsy Fagin, a graduate of Vassar and Brooklyn College.

People’s Library

Basic necessities in this area called “Comfort Station”  including hats, mittens, sweaters and boots seem to be stockpiled, portending a protracted stay.

Comfort Station

Does this level of sophistication look like the work of “dirty hippies,”  or committed activists seeking what Jefferson called a “spirit of resistance?”

This movement is taking place in a surprisingly small plaza. Yes there are trees, but to call it a  “park” doesn’t capture the setting. This is a cement enclave near Wall Street and The World Trade Center Memorial, the size of a city block minus much of the block taken up by wide sidewalks. They are operating at close quarters.

Bordered by Broadway, Trinity Place, Liberty Street and Cedar Street, this area was heavily damaged by the 9/11 attack. I would describe the actual “occupy” area as half of a football field in size. Yet it contains this rich mixture of people, ideas and purposes united around a rather simple yet profound banner, “We are the 99%.” Within this confine occupiers sleep, eat, discuss politics, organize and plan their systematic changes.

Beyond the basics described, I witnessed several serious working groups discussing a range issues.

Inside the “Think Tank” a group was in the midst of debating a health care agenda.

Think Tank

Toward the front (Broadway) of the plaza, a group of 20 or so were discussing women’s issues in the Zuccotti Park version of Robert’s Rules of Order with hand signals and the now familiar short sentence style repeated by others so everyone can hear. I listened for an hour or so to this highly functional collection of people.

Just maybe there is an awakening. Still relatively small but poised to grow. After 40 years of relative political dormancy, during which the 1% have garnered a whopping 40% of the wealth of this country as well as a stranglehold on our political process, perhaps there is a recognition that it is time to become attentive to public policy.

The chant, “What does Democracy look like?” and the reply, “This is what Democracy looks like!” might just make Jefferson smile…

“If once the people become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions.”

Thomas Jefferson

Update 10/19

New poll out today, “Some 59 percent of adults either completely agree or mostly agree with the protesters.” As more people hear about the movement, the numbers go up. From the same poll…”Almost two-thirds of respondents—65 percent—said they’ve heard “a lot” or “some” about the rallies, while 35 percent have said they’ve heard or seen “not too much” or “nothing at all” about the demonstrations.”

Update two

Take time to read this article by Glenn Greenwald (previously a constitutional law and civil rights litigator in New York). He speaks of a climate of fear which extends to participating in political demonstrations. His blog is a great read.

Update three

From this expanding map of protest hot spots and reported arrests you can track the movement’s growth in the U.S. and worldwide. Click on the dots for details from more than 445 locations. Plus if you scroll down the site, there are several income inequality charts that graphically illustrate the problem.