Pillar of Fire - Democratic Underground

H2O Man

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Wed Oct-27-10 11:18 AM
Original message

Pillar of Fire

“Mrs. Cooper, a 54-year old night manager of Selma's Torch Motel, was born in Selma, spent most of her life in Ohio and Pennsylvania, where, she says, she had voted since she was 21. Three years ago, she returned to Selma to care for her mother, now 98 years old, and has twice tried unsuccessfully to register. She contends that she and others in line were complaining about police treatment of an arrested civil rights worker when (Sheriff Jim) Clark heard her say, 'There ain't nobody scared here.' At that, Clark jerked her out of line, twisted her arm, (and) struck her on the head. Then, she concedes, 'I went for him.' ….Mrs. Cooper twice walloped Clark solidly and appeared to be outpointing him until three burly deputies came to his aid. While the deputies pinned her to the ground, Clark belabored her with his billy club.”
TIME; February 5, 1965

When I watched the cowardly and vicious Tim Profitt stomping Lauren Valle, it brought back memories of not-so-distant times, when other women were brutalized by thugs for merely attempting to exercise their Constitutional rights. The image of Annie Lee Cooper being brutally beaten in Selma on January 25, 1965, shocked many Americans.

For many white citizens, it served as a wake-up call for how out of control the racist hate groups – including those wearing police badges – actually were. For non-white citizens, however, it merely confirmed the harsh reality of their everyday lives. The only difference was that someone was there with a camera, and that the image was seen around the world.

Only a month before, on December 20, 1964, at a rally for black Democrats held at the Williams Institutional CME Church in Harlem, Fannie Lou Hamer told of her own, similar experiences. Hamer had attended a 1962 presentation by Rev. James Bevel, an inspired associated of Dr. King, and organizer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). She became active in voter registration efforts in Mississippi, where she caught the attention of the powerful SNCC leader Bob Moses. ( I believe that all young community organizers would benefit from studying the works of Bob Moses, one of the most important, though too often overlooked, leaders of that era.)

Moses had Hamer travel throughout the south, to help organize other community-based groups. On her way home from South Carolina on June 9, 1963, Ms. Hamer and her female coworkers were jailed, and savagely attacked in the confines of their cells. Hamer was beaten almost to death by two deputies with black-jacks.

“I guess if I had any sense, I'd have been a little scared,” she told the audience in Harlem. “But what's the sense of being scared? The only thing they could do was kill me – and it seemed they'd been trying to do that a little bit at a time since I could remember.”

Malcolm X spoke after Ms. Hamer. “When I listen to Mrs. Hamer, a black woman – could be my mother, my sister, my daughter – describe what they had done to her in Mississippi, I ask myself how in the world can we ever expect to be respected as men when we will allow something like that to be done to our women, and we do nothing about it?”

After the photos of the KKK thugs assaulting Annie Lee Cooper were shown in newspapers across the country, Malcolm made similar statements. More, he traveled to Selma, spoke to a SNCC group about self-dense, and issued a warning that if any thugs harmed Dr. King or his followers, that there were others who were not handcuffed by King's nonviolent philosophy, ready to defend them. James Bevel and Andrew Young had attempted to convince Malcolm to modify his message in Selma; Coretta Scott King also met with Malcolm, and was convinced that he was sincere in his efforts to protect her husband and his followers from the cowardly violent thugs who opposed them.

At one point, a person who believed in total nonviolence challenged Malcolm. He said that nonviolence was the only tactic that could lead to victory. “I'm not criticizing you or condemning you,” Malcolm responded, “but I'm questioning your tactics..” The audience member interrupted Malcolm, who replied, “Sir, I have great respect and admiration for one who has the nerve to tie his own hands and then walk out and let a brute brutalize him. I have to respect him, because he's doing something that I don't understand. What he's doing is beyond my power to even comprehend. It would be like putting handcuffs on me and putting me in the ring and telling me to fight Cassius Clay, or Sonny Liston, nonviolently.”

I look at the film of that thug stomping on this young lady – who could be my sister, my daughter, my niece – and I think about these things. I have been in non-violent marches. I believe it is a good tactic. In one non-violent march, a man struck me with a board. Luckily, it hit me on the head, breaking the stick, but doing no harm to me. I kept the broken half of that board.

On the other hand, I remember a few years back, when I got an unexpected phone call from the parents of a young lady, who happened to attend the same college as one of my sons. This mother and father told me that their daughter had been walking back to her dorm one night, when three men began to aggressively harass her. By chance, my boy happened to walk by. The father said that he was surprised when his daughter said that my son did not hesitate to take action to defend his daughter; it was three on one, he said.

I wasn't surprised. When I asked my son about it, he said that he knew that the type of punks who would bully a woman like that were no match for him. Against a defenseless victim, they may think they are as bad as a Sonny Liston, but when my son confronted them, they were reduced to piles of quivering, blubbery shit.

I do not believe that we should be intimidated by the Tea Party thugs. However, I do recommend always being aware of where we are. Read the clues, understand the setting. If you are attending a public function where there is a nest of these snakes, it is probably best to go with a group of friends.

These things upset this old man. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Peace & Justice,
H2O Management