Whenever I see a photo from the civil rights era of young white boys and girls waving confederate flags and protesting the integration of schools, or just the integration of their lives, I wonder how they turned out.
Did they grow up racists?
Or did they find their way to equality via education or experience?
What do they think when they see these photos of their younger selves?
Do they realize now they were not the brave ones in the photos?
Did their hate grow in them because of their parents? Because of their peers? These three are protesting at Clinton High School, later blown up.
Was it the adults they saw on TV who taught them the lesson that all people were not created equally after all?
Of course it is easy for me with my 2018 eyes and 2018 thinking to place myself on the right side of history. But who knows?
Had I been born in Selma or Millbrook or Centerpoint, what kind of a person would I have become? We are all somewhat accidents of birth, and can only hope to improve on what we were given.
The flip side...and the most important side...of this posting is a new book that shows the mug shots of Freedom Riders arrested for being on the right side of the war in Alabama and other hate filled states in the 60's, And how they look now. The NY Times has the story.
Did they grow up racists?
Or did they find their way to equality via education or experience?
What do they think when they see these photos of their younger selves?
Do they realize now they were not the brave ones in the photos?
Was it the adults they saw on TV who taught them the lesson that all people were not created equally after all?
Of course it is easy for me with my 2018 eyes and 2018 thinking to place myself on the right side of history. But who knows?
Had I been born in Selma or Millbrook or Centerpoint, what kind of a person would I have become? We are all somewhat accidents of birth, and can only hope to improve on what we were given.
The flip side...and the most important side...of this posting is a new book that shows the mug shots of Freedom Riders arrested for being on the right side of the war in Alabama and other hate filled states in the 60's, And how they look now. The NY Times has the story.
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