Tuesday through Saturday 30 of us from the Grant went to Alabama to study the Civil Rights Movement. We traveled to Birmingham, Selma, Montgomery, and Tuskegee to walk in the footsteps of those who worked so hard to create a society where all people are treated humanely and where all citizens of America are ensured the rights granted to them by the Constitution.
This trip was emotionally draining. To read stories and see pictures of the violence and hatred that White America held against their Black neighbors makes my stomach churn. That was not how God wants us to treat each other. Our country was so far from "on Earth as it is in Heaven" that shame doesn't even begin to describe how they should have felt. Then, knowing what I know from my family's experiences, I see how far we've come, but I know how far this world still has to go before human rights and human dignity will be available to all. It's a hard lot to swallow.
I'll keep the history lessons for my classroom, but I do want to share one story. Viola Liuzzo was a 39 year old white housewife from Detroit who heard on the radio about the nonviolent protest march that would take folks from Selma to the front steps of the state capitol building in Montgomery, 53 miles away.
Black citizens in Selma were tired of the barriers that the Alabama government allowed to keep them from voting. They wanted to raise awareness across the Nation so that LBJ would enforce the rights the Constitution gives. Bloody Sunday was March 7, 1965, and Viola had seen the images broadcast on ABC of the violence that ensued when police began beating and exploding tear gas as the peaceful marches came across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. She knew in her heart that what the protesters desired was right. I don't know Viola, and I can't see her heart to know if she was a Christian, but even if she wasn't, she knew that the social norm of the time wasn't right. I'm proud of her. Viola had 5 children and a husband at home, but after Bloody Sunday, she drove herself from Detroit to Selma to help with the march that LBJ sanctioned and protected with the National Guard. After the march, Viola used her car to ferry folks back home to Selma from Montgomery. After dark, she was making another trip with a young Black man when three KKK raced up behind Viola's car. After trying to outrun the KKK car at speeds of over 100 MPH, the car came along side hers and shot her point blank. Viola's car sped off the highway, up the embankment, and came to a stop. Blood was everywhere, causing the KKK to think that both Viola and her passenger was dead. Thankfully, her passenger was uninjured, and he was able to run to Selma once the KKK members had left the scene. The police came, but it was too late for Viola. She gave her life fighting for something she knew was just and moral.
I believe Viola understood that "for in the image of God has God made mankind" (Genesis 9:6). God didn't make just White men in his image, or just Black, or just Asian, or whatever the case may be. We all bear God's image, so why do we judge??
While two of the three men never received punishment for Viola's death, justice did eventually come for many whose lives were taken from them as they peacefully tried to obtain what was lawfully theirs. We met with Doug Jones who prosecuted the trials for two of the men who bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham in 1963, and his quote in 2002 was,"Justice delayed is not justice denied".
There's a legacy here that needs to be shared, taught, and told. Each one of us that's grown up in the country and has the freedoms that the Constitution guarantees us have an obligation to pass it on to others. Don't be a cop out; don't say you're too busy. God won't buy it anyway. What are you going to do to bring dignity back to humanity?
No comments:
Post a Comment