Fifty years ago this month, the Freedom Rides began. While the Supreme Court ruled that segregation in interstate commerce, including bus terminals, was illegal, the laws were not being enforced. Because the law failed to act, people of conscience, courage, and determination acted instead.
Resistance to desegregation was
such that those who got on buses risked their lives. The Freedom Riders,
who were both African American and white, were arrested and attacked on the bus
route. Anniston, Alabama was an especially violent site of attack, where
the local Klan and other residents, some still dressed in their church-going
finest, were allowed to beat Freedom Fighters without police interference.
The plan seemed to be that there would be an initial attack in Anniston, and a
second attack in Birmingham. Someone attempted to burn or bomb the bus that
transported Freedom Riders.
As Freedom Riders became injured
or delayed, often being denied hospitalization for extreme injuries, others
kept coming, kept coming, kept coming. If they could get past Alabama and
make it to Mississippi, they were often jailed in Jackson. Some were sent
to the notoriously brutal Parchman prison, where they were treated with notable
inhumanity. But, they kept riding until the walls of segregation came
tumbling down.
Some of their names are household
words. Congressman John Lewis (D-GA), Dianne Nash, James Farmer, Ruby
Doris Smith, Hank Thomas, Stokely Carmichael. Others are less well known,
but no less impactful. Their sheer determination, and willingness to
sacrifice, literally changed history.
This month, there are many
celebrations of the Freedom Riders, including a celebration at the new Freedom
Riders Museum in Montgomery, Alabama, and at a Freedom Riders Reunion and
Conference in Jackson, Mississippi. There will be time for reminiscing,
reflecting, and reconnecting. From honors bestowed on Congressman John
Lewis at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Dinner in
Washington, D.C., earlier this month, to an Oprah show featuring the Freedom
Riders, to these celebrations and reunions, the contribution of the Freedom
Riders will be recognized, honored, celebrated.
It is notable that so many of
these Freedom Riders were quite young when they got on buses to risk their
lives. What will young people risk their lives for these days? Many
of the Freedom Riders were middle-aged, making the Freedom Rides a testimony to
intergenerational activism and advocacy. Are there many such examples
today? What will it take to galvanize people of conscience in this
country? Many suggest that the mass incarceration of African Americans
(see Michelle Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow) might galvanize people to act,
but the unfortunate fact is that too many people are simply indifferent to the
plight of the incarcerated. Some suggest that budget cuts and economic
despair might galvanize people, but too many are celebrating economic recovery,
no matter how spotty or uneven, for there to be mass action around economic
issues. Fifty years ago, Freedom Riders were determined to challenge
the status quo. Now the status quo includes unequal education, unequal
treatment in the labor market, and unequal treatment in the criminal just-us
system, a rancid economy, a crumbling infrastructure, a challenged environment,
and many other issues. Who will challenge this status quo?
What are the fruits of the Freedom
Rides? Thanks to Freedom Riders, legal segregation crumbled. In
November 1961, months after the beatings in Anniston, Alabama, the federal
government began to enforce a 1955 Interstate Commerce Commission Ruling, and a
1960 Supreme Court ruling. One might argue that the sit-in movement and
the Freedom Rides led to the March on Washington, the Voting Rights Act, and
other revolutionary changes in our society.
Why did we stop there? And,
where are today’s Freedom Riders? Today’s young people face as many
internal as external challenges. Too many first generation college
students do not enjoy the parental or community support that first generation
college students enjoyed in the days of Freedom Rides. Then,
college students were considered the proud fruit of their
communities. Now, many are indifferent, even hostile, to their
achievement. We can’t expect young people to be Freedom Riders unless we
raise them as Freedom Riders. But, we can’t raise them up as Freedom
Riders unless we are willing to challenge the status quo for freedom ourselves.
Our society changed because of the
Freedom Riders, and those Freedom Rides represent the possibility of social
change. When will we pick the fruit from the trees that our beloved
Freedom Riders planted?
