My view of these two movements (Civil Rights and Black Lives Matter) is shaped by life experience. I grew up in majority Norwegian ethnic farming community in Minnesota. In 1961, I traveled by bus with other Lutheran youth to a national gathering in Miami Beach, FL. It was my first time being south of Iowa! An overnight stop in Chattanooga TN. Presented our group its first experience of separate facilities for people defined by the system of racism.
Martin Luther King Jr., spoke at the gathering of thousands of youth. I remember his challenge after laying out the issues. “If you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem.” I followed the Civil Rights Movement from the safety of Michigan State University where I made friends with people from all over the country and world, people of different skin color and ethnicity. Books, newspapers and TV news began my education regarding the Civil Rights Movement. The Vietnam War was the concomitant crisis for the country. The draft was always a possibility for men.
John and I moved to Christiansburg in late 1967. Only after my children were school age in 1979 did I get involved in local politics and began to learn of the issues in Montgomery County.
Local branch leaders in the NAACP Rev. John Price and Mr. John Hairston together with Mrs. Nannie Hairston, Nathaniel Bishop, Penny Franklin and many others in the Black community taught and mentored me while working together to address racism in Montgomery County.
Tags: Black Lives Matter, Race
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