65 Years Later, The Boycott Remembered

      The leaders of the boycott that started on this date 65 years go, after Rosa Parks arrest, had no way of knowing it would last over a year. But they entered it with confidence that they would win.

     It truly marked the start of the public consciousness of the Modern Civil Rights Movement. Many of the leaders have passed, including my friend, Rev. Robert S. Graetz just weeks ago.

     When he and his wife Jeannie were dispatched to Montgomery, he was told not to make any trouble. But trouble found them both. "Good trouble", as the also recently passed Rep. John Lewis called it. Trouble surrounded their family and the families of all of those who steadfastly spoke truth to power and steeled themselves for the battle that focused the world's eyes on little Montgomery, Alabama.

     Their place in history is secured. They made good trouble. And changed the world.

 

Rev, and Mrs. Graetz in October 2020

 

     Tourists now walk Dexter Avenue and pose for photos with the statue of Rosa.

     And what she and the others did is a lesson for the U.S. State Department sponsored visitors who now face the same dangers in their hometowns...places where good trouble can get them killed.

     We hope they return with the lesson of those who took part in the boycott in their pockets, using the strength of those 65 year ago Montgomery residents to fight their own good fight.