African American and Black protesters buying movie tickets
The book discusses dramatizes the struggles of the freedom riders who traveled through the American South in the early ’60s. The narrative spotlights pivotal moments in the civil rights movement and shows some of the progress made in the intervening decades. The book also emphasizes the power of nonviolent protest. The black and white protesters risked life and limb for what was right. In Book Two, Lewis’s story continues with the events that took place on November 10, 1960, in Nashville, Tennessee, as “…our young organization had successfully ended segregation at the lunch counters downtown and turned its attention to fast-food restaurants and cafeterias using the same strategy.” It then continues with events that took place in the South between 1960 -1963, culminating with the March on Washington on August 28, 1963. The tension in the South and in Washington as events unfold. Finally, while Lewis introduces us to the giants of the Civil Rights Movement, he never loses touch with the fact that the real heroes were those who sacrificed their goals, their times, and sometimes their lives to advance civil rights. Furthermore, while Lewis was a key player, he modestly downplays his own role in the events. As Lewis’s life unfolds, we learn that with the success of the nonviolent protests at the Nashville lunch counters, the SNCC decides to expand their protests to fast food restaurants and cafeterias and then on to movie theaters. We see that their use of nonviolence is met with increasing uses of violence from brutal beatings to being subjected to fumigation “used only for killing pests.” And we learn that after a march at a local movie theater, Lewis along with 25 others spent his 21st birthday on February 21, 1961, in jail.
I feel like we could stop the BLM protests if everyone agreed and got along with everyone. It is also putting the police officers in jeopardy because police should focus on effective management during the protest to contribute to keeping protests peaceful. One of the things that really hit home for me is having all these protests so close to my house and feeling like I can’t go anywhere or anything because I don’t want to be harmed. During one of the protests in my area, the protesters got very aggressive towards the police officers and started to destroy buildings, run a car through the local Walmart. The protesters were very angry and brutal to the officers. I hate seeing the killings of police officers it hurts my heart. Especially the school shootings like the one at Bridgewater college. One of the police officers graduated from one of the local high schools in my area. Seeing a protest break my heart and I never join in the protest because I don’t want to be hurt personally.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/02/09/bridgewater-officers-shooting-memorial/
I noticed some of the same things in the book as well. I liked the part showing the white protestors roll in the movements and showing their solidarity. I also was intrigued about the freedom riders who traveled throughout the deep south. I’d heard about the freedom riders before and some of the places they went, some of the busses had been attacked and burned and passengers arrested and beat. The men and women who took the routes and traveled through the south did something that I could never do, and the risk and danger was very present in those rides. I thought the same about Lewis and how he was very big and the civil rights movement and how he made such huge impacts and coordinated so many events and was just such a important part of that movement.
I’d have to add on what you had said about the protest and I agree in a lot of ways, if we could all agree and do better to get along then things will get and be better. I think there is a big hatred to officers and the system thanks to some really shitty people who break the rules and don’t protect and serve the right way. But if there is better training and more of an attempt to focus on connecting with the community first and have better relations then things can and will eventually get better. I understand the frustrating aspect of good and innocent officers getting hurt or killed because the hate to them, as I have friends who are cops. But better practice, more intense application processes, more training, and more genuinely good people will make a difference and officers work will be better and better relations with the communities. The other thing to is that the majority of officers in law enforcement just want to make a difference and make a more positive impact on the community and make things better for everyone in them. The biggest problem is with the wrong people getting into law enforcement jobs and positions of power and breaking rules and hurting innocent people, or if not innocent making the wrong decisions on arrest. But again if we can all agree and come together as a society and group, we can be a better functioning society and country, because together we stand and divided we fall.