On the road in Alabama
I've just met two extraordinary people.
When Mary Smith was 18, she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white woman. This was in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955, and in those days, black people weren't supposed to answer back. She was arrested and hauled off the bus in handcuffs.
You've probably heard of Rosa Parks, who did something similar a few months later, and became a national figure as her legal case became a landmark in the civil rights struggle. But Mary Smith was there first, and as we sat on a reconditioned 1950s bus and retraced that fateful journey of more than half a century ago, she told me her story.
The Rev. F.D. Reese is equally remarkable. He was on the Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma in March 1965, at the start of a civil rights march to Montgomery. They were baton-charged and tear-gassed by State troopers following orders from the segregationist governor of Alabama, George Wallace. "I saw blood flowing that day," Dr Reese told me as he stood again on that bridge. "But now with a black man as President of these United States of America, I know that all our pain and suffering was worth it."
You can hear them both tell their stories on The World Tonight, live from Alabama, on Tuesday, Inauguration Day, at 10pm on BBC Radio 4 or online.
And there are more pictures here.
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~19~RS~)
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Robin:
I read your blog about the show in Alabama...I hope it is very interesting and informative.
~Dennis Junior~
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America has come a long way in a short time. It still has some distance to go but it is definitely headed in the right direction. The same cannot be said for most of the rest of the world.
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Until the philosophy which hold one race superior
And another
Inferior
Is finally
And permanently
Discredited
And abandoned -
Everywhere is war -
Me say war.
That until there no longer
First class and second class citizens of any nation
Until the colour of a mans skin
Is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes -
Me say war.
That until the basic human rights
Are equally guaranteed to all,
Without regard to race -
Dis a war.
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The Isis Papers
Freedom... Not only of the Heart and Soul, but of the Mind
http://www.theisispapers.com/
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Nobody is unimportant anymore.
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http://www.rastafarispeaks.com/HIM_UN.html
Lyrics from the song War, adapted by Bob Marley from an excerpt of Haile Selassie's address to the UN in 1963
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Free Music
http://ambassada.podomatic.com/
recommended listening Jah Shaka - Live Dancehall Session
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It's great to see the United States taking pride in itself again. The inauguration of Barak Obama seems to have instilled a great sense of vision in the country. Let's hope it lasts. - Doug
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Dear Robin,
It was quite right to report the opposition point of view in your program tonight, but the boy you interviewed from the Council of Conservative Citizens, is a member of a neo-Nazi organisation. I have just checked their website and found them quoting Hitler with relish and a statement of 'values' that would certainly be illegal in the UK. Not sure if that is the perspective you were hoping for. - Keith.
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Obama has offered hope to many in the US, however many have made promises before that have gone by the wayside and progress never is made. Hopefully Obama will be a new breed of politician and stick to his word and help the US out of its credit crisis.
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After Obama's election, Mary Smith and Rev. F.D. Reese seem so "yesterday".
Let us see if Africans in countries like South Africa, Zimbabwe etc can produce Presidents or Prime Ministers who are white, besides just white sports jocks.
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Robin,
I remember reading somewhere about the troubles a university teacher in the USA had with his students. He was trying to explain to them that their 'I will vote for Obama because he's black, to show that this country is past the segregation' is actually against everything the anti-segregation movement stood for. Namely, that you should not judge a man or vote for him/her just because of the colour of their skin.
According to his confession, the teacher had a very hard time convincing any of the students. Based on that, are we not putting too much importance on the election of Mr Obama in order to justify our belief that America has moved on? After all, Mr Obama has been continuously referred to as the 'first African-American, the first black President of the USA'. The continuous emphasizing of this fact and the unquestioning support Obama received from the black Americans makes me think that such beleifs are premature. There are still racial divisons and racism can run both ways. Barack Obama is the 44th President of the USA, and should be referred to as such, without any additional adjectives attached to his name.
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Robin I respect you and I enjoy your program. You are paid by the BBC to present the news so why did you have to go to the Southern States of the USA?
Obama is the man for the job, he was elected, his colour, that he is left handed or even if he we gay does not matter. He is the man for the job and all the racial stuff has comes from the blacks?
I just don't care. He has ability, he is erudite and I guess he will do a good job and that is all that matters.
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12. Isenhorn wrote:
Barack Obama is the 44th President of the USA, and should be referred to as such, without any additional adjectives attached to his name.
Agreed. When African-Americans stop obsessing over his blackness (while ignoring the fact that he is half-white) America will really have moved forward.
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