As a veteran of the civil rights struggles of the 1960s I was honored and privileged to work, walk and go to jail with the bravest and most inspiring people our generation produced. It was a pivotal chapter in American history; whatever we thought we were doing and achieving, we did made a difference. We were front line troops, (mostly) young women and men putting our own bodies on the line to break the back of deep discrimination and injustice. Some made the ultimate sacrifice, their blood watering roots of freedom’s tree marking the beginning of a new kind of life for all Americans.
Young people ask if the Freedom Movement really changed things in a basic way because schools teach only the most rudimentary information. It’s hard to remember or learn how bad things were. Without our struggle, the reinvigorated women’s’ movement, gay rights, laws against age and disability discrimination would not have arrived when they did.
This important history is passed along through stories of that wonderful era. But the stories are supposed to inspire, not put us to sleep fifty years later. Rocking chair congratulations can come later. Alone among the major civil rights organization of the sixties, the NAACP continues to flourish and function. SNCC, CORE, SCLC and the Urban League are extinct or quiet. Every activist in every field should be a paid up member of the NAACP. There’s still work to be done!
Help me deliver this blog to Americans of good sense and heart, especially young Americans. Please know that just as I and my sisters and brothers in struggle felt called to ACT, that calling is sounding for you today. Rosa Parks once challenged me, “Bob when you see something wrong, you have to dosomething. You must take action.”
For young Americans, new chapters of these stories continue to play out: poor people are excluded, as are gays, the disabled, young people and people of color. As Dr. Maya Angelou, supporting the Spike Lee, Barry Brown movie, Son of the South, from my book, The Wrong Side of Murder Creek: A White Southerner in the Freedom Movement, said, “This film should be made because hate is once again becoming an acceptable form of public discourse.”
Decisions affecting humans and our planet are made for the profit of a few while harming the many. Education policy and practice, meant to lift us up, funnels people into becoming sleepy consumers of culture and products, leaving us stripped and empty. Seventy percent of our economy depends on rampant consumerism funded mostly by credit. We don’t make things anymore, shipping jobs to poor non-unionized workers around the world.
It’s time. It’s more than time. In fact, it’s getting very late. Join me in exploring not just the great stories of the past, but finding the opportunities to write some new stories that are desperately needed today. Stories of hope, courage, imagination and struggle. That same call that moved us back in the day still resounds today. Can you hear it? Will you heed it?
Bob Zellner
November 1, 2010
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