Dear : A Civil Rights Journey

Grade 8 St. Patrick's Episcopal Day School May 2012 Dear Congressman Lewis,

We are the class that visited you a few weeks ago. After learning even more about The Civil Rights Movement and your role in it, we thought you might appreciate knowing that all your work is not being forgotten and that we will continue to fight for better opportunities for all of America’s citizens.

We have just returned from our civil rights trip and want to tell you about it. On May 2, 2012, we flew to Birmingham. Our first place to visit was The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. This museum documents the Jim Crow South through the main years of the Movement and into the current fight for Human Rights all over the world.

We had learned about segregation earlier in the year and the many “pushes” out of the South that led to the Great Migration. We read Richard Wright’s descriptions of discrimination in his memoir, , and of his fear, every minute, that he would offend his white boss or co-worker. The museum made it real by actually showing us the specifics: the movie theatres (like you wrote about), benches, baseball teams, schools, taxis, hospitals, and even hearses, which were often used as ambulances. It really helped to see the physical recreation of these different kinds of discrimination. Even jobs seemed to be assigned by race. And the death rate among was higher. But, in response, African-Americans found ways to get through it. They started their own churches, schools, night clubs, and businesses. And there were many successful church leaders and business leaders. We found it interesting that President Harding visited Birmingham in the 1920s and urged the people of Birmingham to be fairer in their voting requirements. Next, in the Confrontation Gallery, we saw how whites tried to portray blacks as horrible, violent people, as a way to keep them back. We heard the most hideous racial slurs from white children and adults and realized how children learn from their parents and copy what they hear. Hearing the songs that the children sang made us realize how common it was and how early it started. It was powerful in a horrible way. You could really understand how prejudiced and racist people were and what it would be like to hear these things if you were black at that time – what it would feel like.

In the Movement Gallery, we learned more about the major events in the Civil Rights Movement. We learned that there had been four other women before who had taken a stand against bus segregation. We learned that CBS came down to Birmingham to try to figure out why Birmingham was so segregated. In their documentary we saw many whites say that they weren’t racist. And yet they allowed all the segregation. They couldn’t recognize their prejudice. A lady in a flowered hat said she wasn’t racist. When a young black girl won an art contest, this lady got special permission for that girl to enter the library to see the exhibit. The lady didn’t even realize how wrong it was that a black child would not normally be allowed to enter the library!

There were displays about the , , the Children’s March in Birmingham, the March on Washington, and the Selma-to-Montgomery March. We had learned in class about your speech at the March on Washington. You wanted to make more demands on the Administration but softened your speech in deference to A. Philip Randolph, who had waited 20 years for this march and worried that criticism would set back the movement. The exhibit showed clearly that the movement was a community effort, and many leaders inspired many different groups of people. Thanks to the changes in the laws, Birmingham progressed a lot in the seventies. The city government and services became more diverse. A black mayor, Mayor Arrington, was elected and served five terms. The exhibition goes on to show the fight for civil rights, or human rights, right up to today. We learned about cultural intolerance all over the world, such as the apartheid in South Africa. We learned about the humanitarian efforts in Darfur, where droughts and oppression led to rebellion and then millions of deaths in retribution. Tianmen Square in China, the sit-ins in Nigeria, the killing of children in , and the solidarity movement in Poland were some of the many stories told.

Across the street from the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute is the Kelly Ingram Park, which memorializes the Children’s Marches with sculptures of the police dogs and fire hoses and jails. We had learned that children risked the danger of the marches so their parents could keep their jobs. And even though the marches were successful and Birmingham desegregated its businesses, many whites were angry. We watched a movie in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, where these marches were planned, about four girls who were killed by a bomb planted by klansmen six months after the maraches. And they weren’t alone. Two boys were also killed that day, shot for no reason. It was scary how easy all of it was to do.

We had learned that all of the events in Birmingham, plus Martin Luther King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail, and the March on Washington, were important for pushing through the . We also learned that that act was not getting the job done for voting rights. Freedom Summer of 1964 was devoted to getting African Americans to register to vote. It included workshops on how to pass the almost impossible literacy tests on the Constitution. But the key event that finally forced the Voting Rights Act was the 54-Mile March from Selma to Montgomery (as if you didn’t know). So we drove next to Selma and went to the church where the march started, AME Brown Chapel. We knew that members of this church played a major role in planning this march also. We saw the stairs up which police on horseback chased people, after chasing them all the way back from the bridge on Bloody Sunday. In one video, a woman cried as she described watching a woman fall down the stairs unconscious and doing nothing becausae she was too scared to help her up. We followed the route of Bloody Sunday and walked over the . By walking over the bridge, we could understand how it would have been even scarier for you because you couldn’t swim. On the other side of the bridge, we saw a plaque honoring you and took this picture.

It was a long drive from Selma to Montgomery, so it must have been a really long walk. We watched a video of the three marches; it was very emotional and scary. Many people cried from the memories. We saw you marching in the front on Bloody Sunday. We saw, for the first time, the footage of you getting hit in the head and getting the concussion that almost killed you.. We noticed whites on the sidelines cheering. ABC interrupted Trial at Nuremburg to show video footage of Bloody Sunday. Our teacher couldn’t resist pointing out how ironic that was. That footage eventually helped the march succeed on the third try, with 25,000 participants and national guard protection. And the march inspired Lyndon B. Johnson to give a speech urging passage of the Voting Rights Act. In class, we had studied the debate in Congress, by reading letters and reports from both sides. We also saw the charts that showed which counties had the lowest number of African Americans registered to vote, and those counties were always the ones with a larger African American population. It was good to see Congress persuaded by these charts and by the stronger arguments in favor of the act.

We know that Governor Wallace did not come out of the State Capitol to receive your petition, but we visited the Capitol steps, the destination of your march. Next, we toured the Southern Poverty Law Center, the home of the dedicated to the 40 martyrs of the Civil Rights Movement. We liked being able to see their names reflected through the water as we reflected back on what we had learned about them in the museum. We were almost glad it was raining. The rain made us more somber, as we thought about such stories as the death of Reverend Bruce Klunder, who lay down to stop tractors from continuing construction work on an all-white school. A tractor backed up over him. Or Andrew Goodman, who had a promising musical career ahead of him but gave it up because he had to fight against what was wrong. Or Johnnie Mae Chappell, who was walking along a road and was killed by four white men who were just looking for a black person to shoot.

The Southern Poverty Law Center also brings home how we are still fighting for civil rights. The Center still receive threats from hate groups, and they document more recent hate crimes, such as the murder of a man from the Middle East shortly after 9/11. A new American, as he was buying an American flag to show his patriotism, he was shot because “he was wearing a turban.” The Center also shows how the strategies of the Civil Rights Movement can be and are being used to fight for all human rights. Founded by civil rights lawyers Morris Dees and Joseph Levin, Jr. in 1971, with your friend as President, SPLC is “dedicated to fighting hate and seeking justice and legislation for those who don’t have a voice, the most vulnerable members of society.” We were eager to add our names to its Wall of Tolerance, demonstrating how each individual is responsible for a just society. We had included Montgomery in our tour, not only because of the Civil Rights Memorial but also because it started and capped the main years of the Civil Rights Movement, with the and the Selma-to-Montgomery march. We saw the Rosa Parks Museum, built on the corner where Rosa Parks was arrested and pulled off the bus. We visited Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, where the boycott was planned and from where the “social gospel” sermons you used to listen to on the radio were broadcast. It was Martin Luther King, Jr.’s first and last church. He was at church the night his home was bombed, and we drove, as he had done in a taxi, to his home and saw the spot on the porch where the bomb exploded. Even then, when people congregated at his home, bent on revenge, he steered them back toward . Back at school we listened to his sermon about a night before the bombing, after he had received many threatening phone calls and was wondering if he had the courage to carry on, to risk his own life and the lives of those he loved. Because of the inspiration he received that night, he did carry on through that bombing and through all the frightening years ahead. Of course, we had to visit the new Freedom Riders Museum at the Montgomery Greyhound Bus Station, where you had been badly beaten. The museum was closed for the month, but we were able to read the outdoor displays – pretty quickly because it was pouring rain – but we took these photos. We especially liked your quote. We had all seen at least a portion of the PBS Freedom Riders movie, and we knew that SNCC had to start a second wave of Freedom Riders because the first CORE group never finished. And you knew that they had been much too optimistic from the start because they were from the North and had no idea what some white Southerners were capable of. Our last stop was Atlanta, the headquarters of SNCC, home of Martin Luther King, Jr., and your Congressional district! First, we visited the four historically black colleges in Atlanta. Spellman and Morehouse looked beautiful. An alumna of St. Patrick’s is a junior there. She is even Miss Morehouse! She showed us the Martin Luther King, Jr. Chapel on the Morehouse campus. But Morris Brown, the former College of Atlanta, is almost closed. The saddest sight was the overgrown stadium built for the Olympics. There were also two beautiful buildings all boarded up. Our tour guide, who is President of the Atlanta History Center, is trying to get funding to preserve these buildings, since they date from Reconstruction. He showed us the window of W.E.B. DuBois’s office, where he wrote The Souls of Black Folk. Didn’t you walk by Du Bois many many years later when you were both attending a conference on this campus? We learned that he died on the very day of the March on Washington. He would have been proud that you didn’t want to be an accommodationist on that day!

It turned out that our bus driver was related to Alonzo Herndon, the first black millionaire of Atlanta, so we visited the nearby Herndon mansion, where he told us a little bit about his relative, who had founded the Atlanta Life Insurance Company. On our last day we visited the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site. We toured his birth home and learned about his inspirations and about the expansion of his “dream.” We know how much he first inspired you with those early sermons. You, too, were on your way to becoming a preacher, starting with your first congregation, your chickens. You, too, were constantly slapped by the humiliating segregation. And you both were won over to nonviolent protest – you through your early mentor, Jim Lawson. But we also noticed how different you were. Martin Luther King had many advantages that you did not have. Your families were both motivators, but MLK had a father who encouraged him to stand up for himself. Your parents knew that standing up brought nothing but Trouble – and yet the state of fear that they and your neighbors lived in made you all the more determined to stand up. At least three times, you dared to go where MLK didn’t – first on the Freedom Rides, then with your speech at the March on Washington, and third on Bloody Sunday. So you, in turn, influenced MLK.

And you still haven’t given up. MLK enlarged his protest to the Vietnam War and to fighting against poverty for all Americans. On your website, it is clear that you are also representing the citizens who need help the most – with your work for fairer taxes and for Federal programs to help those most hurt by the mortgage crisis. And you have expanded the fight for civil rights to include LGBT rights. We are also glad you are working to improve education since, from what we can tell, the very neighborhoods that need good schools the most now have the worst schools. And the push to desegregate schools, which led to so much educational gain for African-Americans, is quietly giving way to de facto resegregation. When we returned from our trip, we reflected on where America is today in terms of civil rights. While there has been a lot of progress, thanks to civil rights leaders like you, we learned that poverty and the schools that serve impoverished children, is just getting worse in America. After reading the Black Panther Platform of Demands, we came up with our own platform of demands for America. But we had also learned that you and Martin Luther King, Jr. were able to accomplish what you did, in the face of awful racism and misguided people, because of America’s ideals of freedom and democracy. You made America get closer to those ideals. But those ideals are something to be proud of. So here is our Platform: May 2012 St. Patrick’s Episcopal Day School Grade 8 Platform

What We Appreciate What We Want

Modeling the Platform of 1972, each member of Grade 8 contributed ten demands for improving our country. Recognizing that there is much to be grateful for as a citizen of the United States, each member also contributed ten points of appreciation. The result, therefore, reflects a composite, not a consensus, of the views of all members of the class.

This exercise is a joint culmination of our study of The Civil Rights Movement, which included a trip to Atlanta, Birmingham, and Montgomery, and our entire year’s study of Twentieth Century American History. What We Appreciate 1)Freedom: Americans have the right to make demands (as we are doing here), assemble, say and do anything we want, and practice any religion, as long as we do not hurt others. 2)Democracy: Everyone has the right to vote, to choose our representatives. 3)Our system of checks and balances has made a strong, long-lasting political system, which puts the common good ahead of the will of one person or one group. 4)Our government has become more transparent, which reduces corruption. 5)America’s value of equal opportunity gives an openness to our future; our future is dependent on us, our choices and actions. 6)Our capitalistic economic system allows us to earn as much as our talents, skills, education, and hard work can bring. The more you put in, the more you get out. 7)Capitalism has made this country prosperous, so we have money to keep the country running. 8)Fair justice system: Trial by jury of peers, habeus corpus, and laws preventing discrimination and inequality in the justice system. 9)We now have more laws to preserve our ideals: •Discrimination in employment is illegal. •Segregation is now illegal. Some areas continue efforts, e.g., busing, to maintain integration. •There are laws to curb corruption. •There are laws to promote competition and protect workers. 10)Safety: we are able to go almost anywhere and do almost anything with out the fear of being beaten or hurt, thanks to law enforcement by police officers and courage and training of firefighters. 11) Privacy: our privacy cannot be invaded without a warrant. 12)There is public education available to all. 13)Temporary shelter and assistance is provided for people in need, including programs such as Food Stamps for people below the poverty line and Medicare to help senior citizens with health costs. 14)Government programs are supplemented by private charities devoted to helping people 15)Health care: We don’t yet have universal health care, but no one is denied emergency treatment. 16)Our public works are pretty good and help the country run smoothly – roads, dams, bridges, etc. 17)Right to unionize: People are allowed to unite to make collective demands. 18)The American culture is full of life – great art, literature, technology, food, athletics, and entertainment, especially music. 19)There are many brave Americans, willing to give their lives to protect others and their country 20)Most Americans believe in preventing war. 21)We are a diverse country – in background, race, ethnicity, and viewpoint. 22)Mutual respect and integration is happening, slowly, but surely. What Must Change 1)We must fix our extremely unequal distribution of wealth and lower the number of people in poverty, especially the working poor who cannot meet basic needs; 10% of our population controls a disproportionate amount of our wealth. A fairer tax system, less favorable to the wealthy, would be a start. Unequal distribution of wealth also reduces equality of opportunity by creating lower classes with fewer advantages and opportunities, as well as unequal opportunity in the justice system, with the wealthy more able to obtain better representation – and sometimes even getting around the law. 2)We must pay off the country’s debt. 3)We must learn from past mistakes, e.g., not overturn laws designed to prevent future financial collapse (Glass-Steagall comes to mind). 4)We must take better care of the environment – recycle more, conserve more, protect nature, and curb global warming. 5)We must reform the Supreme Court, perhaps through revising retirement and selection process, to reduce political bias. 6)We must focus on domestic problems, not foreign ones. We must end our involvement in war. 7)We must have even more programs for those without homes and sufficient food, as well as better programs to help the unemployed find work. 8)We must reform Social Security and Medicare so everyone receives the money they put in. 9)We must have better health care for all, including advancements in healthcare. 10)We must work to reduce unsolved health issues, including mental disorders, diseases, disabilities. 11)We must achieve more equality among races and genders, especially among those who are in authority. There is still less opportunity for some citizens and hidden discrimination. There is still racial profiling and bias in our schools and in our justice system that sends a disproportionate number of minorities to jail. Black males, especially, are victimized by the bias. 12)We must end hate crimes in America and the racism, pre-judging, and stereotyping that produce them. 13)We must work to reduce white privilege – especially by eliminating the stereotyping of other races that supports it by creating less respect and therefore less opportunity for them. 14)We must improve education, ensuring better public schools in poor areas and higher high school graduation rates, and enabling more people to go to college. 15)We must stop the increasing de facto resegregation of schools and encourage integrated neighborhoods. Integrated schools close the gap between different races’ achievements. 16)We must be more accepting of difference and change, especially of sexual expression and orientation. 17)We must work to reduce bullying, suicide, violence, and murder. Better gun control is a start. 18)We must educate about the negative influences of the media and advertising – promoting unhealthy body types, unhealthy eating habits, status symbols, as well as gender, ethnic, and racial stereotypes. Did we neglect to mention The World of Coke, our last stop, not to mention, no doubt, one of your favorite Atlanta institutions? Thank you, again, Congressman Lewis, for all you have done to change America for the better. With deep respect and gratitude, Ms. Adams' Grade 8 Humanities Class of St. Patrick's Episcopal Day School Marcus Daly, Brendan O'Neill, Wesley Price, William Lowe, Sam Danish, Penn Diba, Tre Jones, Katherine Baker, Isabel Froemming, Jay Bolton, Gareth Nicholas, Sofia Amaro, Carson Peters, Madison Eldridge, Elizabeth Livingston, Nora Canellakis, Mollie Thomas, Julia Carter, and Aidan Kelliher. The End May 2012