Thoughts from a Daughter of the Struggle

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The Great Black Vote

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  Created by Karen Hatter | add comment

I was a senior attending Ruleville Central High School in 1968, in Ruleville, Mississippi. We were a dynamic, close knit little group.

We had been nurtured by some innovative and gifted teachers, most notably Ms. Earlean Johnson, who made us believe we could accomplish anything despite our rural setting and life challenges.

The winds of change were blowing through the state of Mississippi in 1968. There was excitement and expectancy in the air.

The afternoon Freedom School, established by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), changed my whole perception of the world and my place in it. The diverse team of teachers from all over the world broadened my perspective and made me hunger for learning.

SNCC, led locally by Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer and Charles McLaurin, had done significant work in voter registration in our Delta town, despite constant threats and intimidation.

Mrs. Hamer had become world renowned following her speech at the 1964 Democratic Convention, hosted in Atlantic City, New Jersey that year.

Sometimes, as she sat in our home chatting with my mother, I could hardly believe she was the same woman I saw on television that fateful night in 1964.

A steady stream of journalists, celebrities, and politicians descended upon the town for interviews. Her courage and boldness in the face of danger had inspired the world. Many just wanted to be near her. Then came April 4, 1968.

Nearly everyone living at that time can tell you exactly where they were when they heard the news.

I was on the campus behind the school talking with fellow seniors. There were no more classes to attend, so we just lounged around the school, waiting for our graduation in May.

We heard a scream. A girl came running from the building, crying and waving a scarf. We were stunned into silence. When she got closer, we heard her words between her sobs,“They killed Dr. Martin Luther King!” She repeated the sentence over and over.

We were shocked into silent disbelief. The girls began to scream and cry. The boys started kicking things - trees, garbage cans, even the Merry Go Round.

The coach, Mr. Persley, known for his temper, ran outside to see what was going on. When he was told, he started kicking the brick building.

Another faculty member stood motionless, stunned, saying, “They killed my brother. They killed my brother.” He and Dr. King were frat brothers in Alpha Phi Alpha.

By the time we got home to turn on our television sets to watch the news, cities all over the country were in flames.

The death of Dr. King changed a lot of things in this country. There was anger, destruction and hardened attitudes. There were riots and hopelessness,  but I saw something else.

I saw people who had been resolute racists and supremacists in Mississippi literally change over night.

Then, too, I saw old warriors seem to give up and pull a shell of defeat over their hearts saying, “Things’ll never change."

In many ways, and by the grace of God, with much hard work by dedicated people, Mississippi has struggled through many of it’s problems and literally willed itself forward.

There still exists an underclass that needs a lot of attention.

One day, I stopped by a library to use a computer. Every computer was taken by young girls, intently working, some with babies on their laps.

They have a dream, and they will let nothing, including their own life's challenges, failures or shortcomings, stop them.

These are the young people of my organization, the Fannie Lou Hamer Cultural and Learning Center. My focus and target group are those who are first generation students attending high school, who left school before graduating because of lack of motivation and other problems.

It is a challenge, but it can be done.

My favorite quote of all times comes from Mrs. Hamer herself.

In 1964, when the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) was offered two delegate seats, with no voting status, Mrs. Hamer said, “We didn't’ come for no two seats when all of us is tired.” I think of that quote often when I am tired.

On this special anniversary, the 44th anniversary of her appearance before the Democratic Party's credentials committee, her words spoken many years ago, have taken on a deeper meaning.

We now have to face the demons of apathy, complacency and the tiredness within ourselves.

A petrified tree is dead but is still standing. Bigotry, neglect, obsolescence, and a generational understanding gap are the petrified trees that encroach upon the Mississippi Delta.

Mr. Charles McLaurin, who is an advisor for my organization, speaks to tourists, workshop participants and a variety of audiences.

He tells them that Senator Barack Obama is the culmination of the dream of Dr. King. He is the dream in the flesh. Very few could have stood the baptism of fire Barack has endured.

Poise comes from experience and wisdom. It is his season. The country can be healed in so many ways by his enthusiasm, faith, courage, intelligence and insight.

This is the dream of all persons of every color and creed who have fought for the rights of all people.

On these important anniversaries, of Mrs. Hamer's activism and the 45th anniversary of Dr. King's I Have a Dream speech, we salute the legacy of all great freedom fighters and those that they inspired.

It will take courage but, I challenge every reader to be a freedom fighter in your world, on your job, in your school and within your family. Words can create hope and change, tearing down injustice and despair.

Speak up for what you believe is right concerning your fellow human beings.

The author, Jean Walker Rawlings, is the Director of the Fannie Lou Hamer Cultural and Learning Center in Ruleville, Mississippi.

A companion piece at NowPublic, Striving to Attain the Dream