http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20100328/OPINION03/3280309/1046/OPINION
Ron Farris
March 28, 2010
Irony runs thick as the circuitous trail of historic events making up
the American Civil Rights Movement promises to bring the national and
world spotlight back upon Mississippi. As the 150th anniversary of
President Abraham Lincoln's watershed Emancipation Proclamation
nears, the 50th anniversary of the historic Freedom Rides sets the
stage for Mississippi to be judged anew on her civil rights record.
The question for all of us is: How far have we come and how far do we
yet have to go?
The march of 50th anniversaries will commence in 2011 and span the
decade, mirroring the years from 1961 to 1970 when civil rights
leaders marked the centennial anniversary of Lincoln's proclamation
with a non-violent revolution that brought this country face to face
with its greatest challenge to date: the presence and place of black citizens.
History teaches that slavery severed the union in 1860 and the bloody
fight between Northern and Southern brothers and kin claimed more
lives than all this country's other wars combined. Anti-slavery
abolitionists, including Lincoln's administration and a majority of
Congress, had little reservation in fighting a war over the spread of
slavery as America's westward expansion was under way, believing that
the Founding Fathers themselves knew that this country would, at some
point, reckon with the inhuman practice.
Even as Lincoln steadied his hand on New Year's Day 1863 to be sure
his signature on the Emancipation Proclamation evidenced no
hesitation or doubt, he and his peers across the nation were
struggling mightily with the role freed black men, women and children
would play in the life of the nation, once it became apparent that
these people considered themselves Americans and would not agree to
return to their historic nations of origin.
That struggle dominated the political scene throughout the 1850s and
1860s and languished another 100 years, when it was finally brought
to a boil by the generation of Americans who boarded buses to take
their message of equality to the heart of the segregated South,
including Mississippi, in the summer of 1961.
The role Mississippi played in the 1961 Freedom Rides is undeniably a
dark chapter in her history. Fifty years later, though, the role
Mississippi plays in the national celebration planned to commemorate
the Freedom Rides will make all the difference in what history books
make of Mississippi in the final analysis. That part of the story
remains to be written and is, ostensibly, ours to write.
The irony is palpable when one realizes that Gov. Haley Barbour is
said to have recently written a letter to each of the living Freedom
Riders across the country inviting them to come to Mississippi in
2011 for commemorative events planned by the Mississippi Freedom 50th
committee chaired by Dr. Leslie McLemore. Fifty years ago, then-Gov.
Ross Barnett and the state's legally segregated machine welcomed
those same citizens to the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman
and other jails across the state, where they were subjected to bloody
beatings and, in now infamous cases, merciless lynchings and murder.
Gov. Barbour's invitation reportedly includes a visit to Parchman for
those willing to come back, but the reception this time will be that
afforded to diplomats and distinguished guests.
That irony continues with what promises to be a string of
commemorative events designed to mark the anniversary that will be
markedly different on every point from the acrimonious reception
Mississippi gave to these same women and men 50 years ago.
Mississippi leaders planning the event will, no doubt, focus on the
celebration, as the passage of 50 years has brought us to a different
and better place indeed. No Mississippian should take for granted the
free intermingling and fellowship shared by the white and black
people who will attend the various events, nor should they take for
granted the handshakes, hugs, salutes and tears that will, undoubtedly, flow.
As plans are made, perhaps one substantive theme should center around
the notion that there is still unfinished business - more work to be
done - and that Mississippi wishes to lead the South and the nation
in the discourse and decision-making necessary to set the course for
the future. In a real sense, the slow turning of political and
cultural wheels that the Freedom Riders helped to start is still a
work in progress. Fifty years later, our nation still struggles with
issues of race and equality, but those issues have transcended black
and white and now include Hispanic and other Americans struggling to
make the American dream their own.
The next chapter in our nation's civil rights history must include a
clear and honest assessment of how far we've come, a civil but
decisive dialogue over what our goals and priorities should be in the
years ahead, and a commitment by all to transcend disagreements,
embrace the positive elements of our diversity and push forward in
unity of mind, body and spirit day by day until our goals are fully achieved.
How ironic it would be to see the Freedom Riders invited into the
very rooms in the Mississippi Governor's mansion, the Mississippi
State Capitol, Parchman and other now-infamous sites where
segregationists of another era planned and plotted and condemned
them, but this time to work hand in hand with Mississippi leaders to
forge our common future?
The path from where we are now to where we all want to be will not be
an easy one, and an honest dialogue about where we are, where we want
to go and how we get there will not be for the faint of heart.
Mississippi should seize this golden opportunity to invite the best
and brightest minds in the country to join our honored Freedom Rider
guests in the discussion, and make it one for the history books.
The events in 2011 will provide a natural and fitting time to stop,
contemplate the past and celebrate how far we have all come. It
should be a time for the world and our fellow Americans to see how
far Mississippians have brought our state, fulfilling to a meaningful
degree the dream that Abraham Lincoln had while Americans fell dead
by the tens of thousands in a single day on U.S. soil 150 years ago,
and that much-lauded dream immortalized on the steps of the Lincoln
Memorial by Martin Luther King a hundred years later.
In their day, a century apart, Lincoln and King both shared the dream
of the Founding Fathers when they framed the Declaration of
Independence at the birth of our nation:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the
pursuit of Happiness . . ."
Most of us who live to celebrate these watershed events in American
history share the same dream today. While the vestiges of segregation
still languish in some corners of our society today, it is undeniable
that those challenges that do remain pale in comparison to where we
were as a state and as a nation 50 years ago.
To be sure, in the words of the sage we have "miles to go" before we
sleep. The reasoned, truthful and constructive discussion of our
common course going forward should be a key component of the
celebrations in 2011 and throughout the decade as other civil rights
50-year milestones are commemorated - and, if handled with great
care, will be its enduring legacy.
This dialogue, and a resultant firm resolution with inclusive and
realistic goals, is the essential outcome of these commemorative events.
When the Freedom Riders leave Mississippi next year, in the place of
the blood they left behind in 1961, they should carry a blessing and
our gratitude, and leave us - and America itself - with a clear
vision and a plan for what our children and their grandchildren will
celebrate 50 years from now.
--
Ron Farris of Madison - an attorney in Jackson and former state
legislator - is a member of The Clarion-Ledger Reader Editorial
Board. Contact him at RFarris@ rbisf.com.
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