3 people, 3 deaths
Michael (Mickey) Schwerner, Andrew (Andy) Goodman, and James Chaney were all civil rights activists who promoted voting registration among African Americans. Schwerner, James Chaney, and Andrew Goodman, two of his closest friends, traveled to Longdale to visit a Methodist Church that was bombed by the Klu Klux Klan because it was going to be used as a Freedom School. They were then arrested but released later on in the evening. After being released they were walking on the side of the road when they were horribly mobbed, killed, and buried in an earthen dam by the Klu Klux Klan. FBI agents then found their bodies a few days later in the dam at Old Jolly Farm.
Michael Schwerner a white Jewish-American civil rights activist was born in 1939 and killed in 1964. He was married to Rita Levant, both field workers and a part of the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE). In the summer of 1964, he organized and led Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) to intend to hold classes and drives to register African Americans to vote in the state, which was called Freedom Summer. Schwerner was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Andrew Goodman was also a white Jewish-American civil rights activist and was born in 1943. He wasn’t married but did have a brother named, David. While he was in college he joined Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) and volunteered in the Freedom Summer campaign.
Alike Goodman, James Chaney was born in 1943. When Chaney was 15, him and his friends all wore paper bandages that read “NAACP” (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) showing their support for civil rights organization. In the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) he organized voter education classes, introduced Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) workers to local church leaders, and helped the workers get around the counties.
One thing I noticed was that two out of these three men were white men just standing up for what they believe in. They were mobbed and murdered not because of their color but for supporting people of color. Personally, I wouldn’t do something that I knew would get me killed just because I’m not the type of person to take huge risks.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Chaney
The fact that, out of the three men murdered that day, only one of them was a black man really puts things into a new perspective. The March books have started to show a rise in crimes, not only directed at black people, but white people as well. The violence has spread across multiple groups, the only goal being to put a stop to the Civil Rights Movement. At this time, the people who chose to join this movement needed to come to terms with the fact that they could be next. They could be the next face on the news, the next missing poster, or the next rotting dead body found buried in a dam. It was disheartening enough that in the previous pages talked about writing their wills and expect to not to come back alive. Now, it was common knowledge that the people around you, yourself included, could die at any time. It was a solemn thought to have, but even scarier when I put myself in their shoes. Would I really risk my life for people I don’t know? Would life be easier if I just stayed a bystander? Did other people think selfishly like I do? What if things never changed, would my death have been pointless?
Nowadays, when we think of protesting and standing up for what we believe in, our minds don’t immediately jump to writing our wills and kissing our loved ones goodbye. However, I do believe that if things were to escalate to that point, people would rise to take the place that these brave people once stood in. When the will of the people fighting is strong enough, even death seems like a step forward for their cause. If I ever found myself having to fight for a cause I believe in, even if it meant putting my life on the line. I would choose to fight to the very end instead of sitting idly, asking if things will change some day.