Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere...

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."  This very famous quote from Martin Luther King, was part of Rev. Cromwell Handy's sermon at the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church this morning.  What a wonderful worship time!  I no sooner entered and was greeted by a lovely old woman named Viola Jordan ("like the river", she said). When I told her why I was in Montgomery, she said, "I was part of the church when Dr. King was pastor."  The next gentlemen informed me that ten feet below the floor we were standing on was where Dr. King launched the Montgomery Improvement Association which boycotted the busses after Rosa Parks was arrested. I was greeted by many members, and the worship was full of gusto--if you've ever been in a southern Black Baptist church, you know what I mean.  The sermon, on Philippians 4:1-9 was wonderful--focusing on the need to actually "do" things like focusing on beauty, truth, etc.  At the end, Rev. Handy began to exhort us about how doing things right leads to justice.  Then he talked about the George Zimmerman not guilty verdict in the Trayvon Martin case last night.  He got quite animated with his despair over the way a teenage African American can be shot and killed, with no recriminations (unlike Michael Vick who got jail time for mistreating dogs--the point was taken).  Then he talked about how their voting rights are again being threatened (the recent Supreme Court decision), and referred to "those of you sitting here today who marched over the Edmund Pettis bridge (site of the 1965 Bloody Sunday march) and rode cabs and walked during the 1954 Montgomery Bus Boycott.  I would be less than honest if I didn't say that I was truly humbled to be sitting in this historic church, worshipping with foot soldiers of the civil rights movement, in the very Church where some of the most significant activism for justice began. I could not have set up a more appropriate way to complete this adventure I've been on.....Then I drove to Selma, and walked over the Edmund Pettus--something I've wanted to do for a long time.  In case you don't know, on March 7, 1965, 600 marchers led by Rev. Hosea Williams and John Lewis began a march to Montgomery (about 50 miles East) to demand the right to vote. They crossed the bridge and were met by state troopers who brutally beat them, loosed their dogs, etc.  The world was horrified as it witnessed this slaughter.  Several weeks later, Martin Luther King came to town to lead a much larger march, walking across the Edmund Pettus bridge and all the way to Montgomery (you can see the photos of the Montgomery part of the march in yesterday's post.)  It was chilling to walk across that bridge and visualize the horror that waited on the eastern side. On the drive there I listened to the freedom songs of the Carlton Reese Memorial Unity Choir--pretty appropriate. Tomorrow I'll visit the National Voting Rights Museum at the foot of the bridge, and then begin the long journey home.  I'd love to hear from you if you've followed this journey.  I am hoping to do a presentation in our Church on the afternoon of September 15, the 50th anniversary of the Birmingham Church bombing.  If you're around, come on over to Ridgewood Christian Reformed Church.
Shalom.

Don't get upset, this was before the worship service--I did not use my camera during!  :-)

The road to Selma--this is the road the 25,000 marchers took to walk to Montgomery.

The Bloody Sunday Memoria

Walking this direction on March 7, 600 marchers were attacked when they reached the foot of the bridge.

Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church--starting point of the Selma-Montgomery Voting Rights march.

Brown

Where is everybody???

While in Birmingham this past week, several of us noted the lack of people on the streets and in the parks.  We wondered where they were.  Even the Civil Rights Institute, the focus of the 50 year anniversary celebrations is fairly empty.
Today I drove to Montgomery to see Dexter Ave Church, (MLK's first pastorate), the state capitol complex to which the voting march came and the Greyhound Bus terminal where the freedom riders came.  As you'll see in the photos below--there is hardly anyone anywhere, at least in this very historic section.  Maybe it's just that, being from NJ, I'm used to people all the time.  But it was a bit sad to see so few people at these extremely important civil rights landmarks.  Maybe it means nothing at all--but I do wonder.
In any case, here are some pictures.

DexterAve Baptist Church

Birmingham's 4 Little Girls on the Civil Rights Memorial

The Civil Rights Memorial--designed by Maya Lin, who designed the Vietnam Wall. Unfortunately they are renovating it, or water would be flowing over it.

Alabama State Capitol

Jefferson Davis--President of the Confederacy---hmm, a traitor?

State Capitol

Looking down the empty road--Dexter Ave Church on the left.  The voting rights march of 1965 came straight at you from this view.

Note the view--you are looking at Confederate Pres. Jefferson Davis with Dexter Ave Church and the route of the voting rights marchers in the distance.

The Confederate Memorial

What the Alabamians thought of their Civil War soldiers

One of numerous Confederate battle flags--probably the most inflammatory in our day.

The first Confederate White House

The Greyhound terminal--note the lighter section on the left--that's the old colored entrance.

Catherine Burks- Brooks--she spoke to our group yesterday.  This is her mug shot when she, along with John Lewis and the other freedom riders were finally arrested in Jackson, MI.

A picture of the terminal--"colored" folks would have to walk past the busses to get to the colored waiting room.

The old colored entrance

An emotional rollercoaster...

The only way to describe today's final session is as an emotional rollercoaster. We started off visiting the 16th St. Baptist Church, the site of the KKK bombing that killed 4 little girls on Sept. 15, 1963. The bomb blew through 18" of concrete, took down a staircase, and exploded in the lounge of the girls bathroom, where the 4 girls were.  One other girl was there, but she had gone over to the sink, and survived, although she was blinded in one eye.  One of the most amazing stories about that day is that 4 stain glass windows were blown out in the blast. The center one had an image of Christ, the good shepherd--only the face of Christ was destroyed in that window.  The other incredible fact about that day is that the sermon text and Sunday School lesson for the day was " A Love that Forgives."  The minister actually stood on the steps after an angry crowd began demanding vengeance, and preached that sermon to calm them down.
After the visit, we heard from Rev. Carolyn McKinstry, a survivor of the blast, and best friend of Cynthia Wesley, one of the victims. She has gone around the world now working for peace and reconciliation.  The most amazing thing she read to us was a letter she received from the cellmate of Bobby Frank Cherry, one of the bombers who was finally convicted in 2001.  After Cherry died in prison, his cellmate wrote Carolyn a letter in which he told her that he had, indeed, planted the bomb.  The cellmate wrote that Cherry confessed the crime, and then was led to faith in Christ by the cellmate.  He repented and asked forgiveness.  Amazing grace indeed!  That's the most powerful letter she has received among thousands.  You should get her book, While the World Watched, and read her incredible story.
But we weren't done yet.  Next up was Catherine Burks-Brooks, who participated in the 1961 freedom rides.  This is a woman who knew no fear--she said that she never "stepped aside" for whites when she encountered them on the sidewalk, instead, she bumped them. She ended up being arrested along with John Lewis (now Congressman from Georgia) and driven around by Bull Connor--she said, "I had a nice conversation with the Bull in the car."  But then Bull let them out after dark in a "sundown town"--a place where "negroes would be killed if they showed themselves outside after dark.  When the group finally found a black family's house and knocked on the door, a man answered, and showed fear to let them in. Catherine, thinking about her mom said, "Let's talk loud, and wake up his wife." When the wife woke up she shouted at her husband, "Let those children come in the door."
The final speaker was G. Douglas Jones, the prosecutor who finally got convictions of two the bombers in 2001, 38 years after the murder.  His story of putting all the pieces together was incredible. He had grown up in segregated Birmingham, was 9 in 1963, and now dedicated his life to bringing these murderers to justice.  An incredible story.
To cap it all off, we had a concert by the Carlton Reese Memorial Unity Choir.  This choir was established in 1959 at the request of Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth.  He wanted a choir to inspire the marchers at the mass meetings.  At one point in 1963, they sang at meetings for 42 nights in a row, inspiring people to lay their lives on the line for the cause of equality. The oldest member now is Mamie Mason, now 81, but one of two original members.  It is incredible to think of her starting to sing her faith in 1959 and still singing strong today. At the end of the concert we all linked arms and sang We Shall Overcome. 
Tomorrow I continue my journey heading to Montgomery to see the Civil Rights Memorial and the site of the freedom riders beating at the Greyhound terminal.
I am emotionally drained at the end of this day! There is so much more to say......

16th St. Baptist Church

This, and the next one, are part of the memorial to the 4 little girls.

The monument at the site of the bomb.

The new window replacing the one that had the face of Christ blown out.

Window sent from school children in Wales--the struggle of the Blacks

Rev. Mckinstry (I didn't realize that the picture taker didn't focus it.)

Catherine Burks-Brooks--note the African theme and the mug shot she's holding! She's proud of that mug shot--taken by the Jackson, MI police when she was arrested as a freedom rider.

The Carlton Reese Memorial Unity Choir

Sorry--out of place--but beyond this Exit sign, just to the right is the site of the bomb blast that killed the 4 girls:

 Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carol Robertson, Denise Mc Nair

"You can outlaw an organization, but you cannot outlaw the will of a people to be free."

"You can outlaw an organization, but you cannot outlaw the will of a people to be free." This is a quote from Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth.  I wrote about him a bit a couple of days ago, but we had a presentation about him today, and I feel compelled to say a few more things.  First of all he was known as the man most feared by segregationists in the South. Nothing caused him to back down.  I mention the Christmas night, 1956 bombing of his house--what I did not say was that the dynamite was place underneath the front corner of his house, directly under his bed.  He was in bed when the explosion occurred.  His bed was lifted into the air, and he ended up in a crater, with only a scratch.  He was able to crawl out of the house. Outside, there was a furious crowd ready to attack the police. Shuttlesworth came out of the house and calmed them down, reminding them that non-violence was the only acceptable response. And then, the next day, he made sure he was in downtown Birmingham to be one of the first to sit on the bus the first day of court ordered integration.
In Sept., 1957, he attempted to enroll his children in the all white Phillips High School--he was nearly beaten to death (one of his attackers would later be one of the bombers of the 16th St. Baptist Church), and his wife was stabbed in the hip.  He was taken to the hospital,
but the next day left the hospital to attend a movement meeting he was scheduled to attend, again, working to keep the movement non-violent.
He is clearly the unsung hero of the civil rights movement.  But he was wise enough to know that he had to invite ML King to Birmingham, because King would bring the national media with him.
An incredible man of faith!
Tomorrow promises to be an extremely interesting day--we'll be touring 16th St. Baptist Church (site of Sept. 15 bombing that killed 4 girls), hear from Carol McKinstry who survived the bombing, talk with one of the freedom riders from 1961, and hear from G. Douglas Jones, the federal attorney who successfully prosecuted the church bombers, years after the murder of the 4 little girls.  Tomorrow night is a final program with singing by the Carlton Reese Memorial Unity Choir.

"It's bad not to know; but it's worse to not want to know."--African proverb
One of our two foot soldier speakers, Myrna Jackson, shared that with us today. Today's sessions were incredibly powerful--so much so that my processing will need some time.  But the two highlights were a walking tour of Kelly Ingram Park and the presentation by the foot soldiers.
Kelly Ingram Park is the park in which the children converged in May, 1963 as the civil rights movement, which was sputtering, got new life from teenagers who left school on May 2 (D-Day) and several days following, walked as much as 2 miles to 16th St. Baptist Church, entered the church to sing and pray, and then marched out of the church singing "We Shall Overcome" on their way to confrontations with police, police dogs, and firemen with fire hoses shooting water at full blast.  And then, of course, arrest and jail. The park today is quiet and beautiful (see photos below), and you have to work to see the horrors of those days in May.
The two foot soldiers, Janice Wesley Kelsey and Myrna Jackson, are called foot soldiers because they were participants in the 1963 campaign. Ms. Kelsey was 16, and arrested the first day.  Singing "We Shall Overcome" as she walked down the steps of the church helped her overcome her fear. She said that when they got put on school busses to be taken to jail, they cheered because blacks didn't ever get free rides on school busses.  And then, when they transferred the kids to the State Fairgrounds because over 1000 had been arrested, they cheered again since blacks were not allowed to go the the fair!  Ms. Jackson described the jail as smelling like a "chicken coop."  She also said that they were trained to pray 3 times a day while in jail.  So the kids prayed and sang 3 times each day.  The police tried to drown them out by singing "Dixie", but the kids would not be stopped.  Both women emphasized that this was a spiritual movement, and that's what the police did not understand.  Ms. Jackson left us with two other African proverbs:
"Every generation is responsible for the next generation."
"If you can't save a hundred, save one."
 Below are photos from today.  So much more to talk about --but you'll have to ask.

16th Street Baptist Church--picture hundreds of children coming down those steps.

Kelly Ingram Park

The brick colors--red, yellow, black--representing the diversity of races

MLK statue in the park

Praying ministers--represents a Palm Sunday march during which these ministers prayed while being threatened by Bull Connor.  You can ask me about the miracle of the fire hoses.

One of 4 broken pillars representing the 4 young girls murdered by the KKK in the Sept. 15th bombing of the 16th St. Baptist Church

The dogs

Based on an actual AP photo

Notice--Segregation is a sin (upside down)--the kids turned the social order upside down.

Janice Kelsey (L) and Myrna Jackson (R)

I am humbled by their faith and courage.