Saturday, March 24, 2018

SCOPE50 Newsletter - October 2017

             SCOPE50 News                     
 
The Struggle Continues!                                                                
       SCOPE50.org                                                                                                                                        October 2017
 
 
 
John Doar History Trail
New Richmond, Wisconsin, opened its new John Doar History Trail with celebratory events and informational panel displays on August 24-26.  The celebration featured two unique panel discussions – on the Civil Rights Era and the impeachment inquiry into President Richard Nixon – with panelists (including Bob Moses) who experienced the events firsthand.  The History Trail winds through New Richmond and includes six panels providing Doar's history.  At his death at age 92 in 2014, The New York Times described John Doar as "a country lawyer from northern Wisconsin who led the federal government's on-the-ground efforts to dismantle segregation in the South."
 
Doer's accomplishments include:
      Helping James Meredith become the first African-American admitted to the University of Mississippi.  Doer escorted Meredith to the admissions office in 1962.
   Defusing a potentially deadly riot in Mississippi in 1963 following the funeral of civil rights activist Medgar Evers who was murdered by an American white supremacist.
   Serving as a chief prosecutor in 1967 in a federal case against Klan/police conspirators in the killings of three voting rights workers in the famed "Mississippi Burning" trial.
   Acting as special counsel in 1974 to the U. S. House Judiciary Committee's investigation of President Richard Nixon for the Watergate Scandal, which eventually led to Nixon's impeachment and resignation.
 
President Barack Obama presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Doar in 2012.  Obama, when presenting the medal to Doar, recalled the events of the 1960s:  "John escorted James Meredith to the University of Mississippi.  He walked alongside the Selma-to-Montgomery March.  He laid the groundwork for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  I think it's fair to say that I might not be here had it not been for his work."
 

Remembering Dick Gregory:
Dick Gregory, who died on August 19 at the age of 84, was one of the first black comedians to find mainstream success with white audiences in the early 1960s. He rose from an impoverished childhood in St. Louis to become a celebrated satirist who deftly commented upon racial divisions at the dawn of the civil rights movement and helped bring national attention to fledgling efforts at integration and social equality for blacks.

Dick Gregory was one of the earliest celebrities to support the Civil Rights Movement.  He was in Montgomery in 1965 to support SCLC and the Selma to Montgomery March.  He continued to support SCLC when Dr. King went to Chicago in 1966.  Dick Gregory was by his side and shared his home in Chicago with some of us who were in Chicago with Dr. King.  He served on the SCLC Board of Directors until 2016. Gregory went on to tackle many issues in the country, including the Vietnam War and prison reform.  Not only did Gregory give voice to these issues but he was willing to make sacrifices on behalf of what he believed in.  Essentially he gave up his career, and his fasting around a number of issues affected his health.   After his death of a severe bacterial infection, his son Christian Gregory stated that "Years of severe fasting, not for health but for social change, had damaged his vasculature system long ago.  He always reminded us, many of his fasts were not about his personal health but an attempt to heal the world."
 
When Dick Gregory died, we lost a Civil Rights giant. 
 

Hosea Williams Mural
On September 21 a mural was dedicated in honor of Hosea Williams in Atlanta.  Created by visual artist Fabian Williams, the fluorescent, glow-in-the-dark mural is installed at Studioplex on Airline Street in the Old Fourth Ward between Auburn and Dekalb streets. The towering mural depicts Williams in his trademark overalls (his "freedom suit") with his arms outstretched.
 
Mural-Hosea.png
 
Barbara Williams Emerson, Hosea's daughter (and a member of our SCOPE50 Board of Directors) stated: "Fabian Williams and Studioplex have done a tremendous service for the City of Atlanta by creating this very contemporary image.  The mural delivers Hosea Williams and potentially his body of work to a generation of Atlantans who missed out on his leadership and don't know his story of perseverance or his aggressive approach to activism, social responsibility, and politics. Now, this dynamic mural challenges them to learn and act. Who knows? It might spark a new group of Hosea followers. All they have to do is Google him or study his papers at the Auburn Avenue Research Library or join the work at Hosea Helps, the organization he started nearly 50 years ago. But first, he has to get on their radar. This mural does exactly that. Hosea Williams is back!"
 

Martin Luther King, Jr. Statue
The other event that took place in Atlanta was the unveiling of a statue of Martin Luther King, Jr. on the grounds of the Georgia Capitol.  The statue stands at the intersection of Capitol Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.  It was purposely placed at that location so that it faces the King Center, Ebenezer Baptist Church, and the Auburn area, where Dr. King was born, preached and marched.  The statue paying tribute to Dr. King made its public debut on August 28, the anniversary of his "I Have a Dream" speech.  
 
MLK statue Atlanta.jpg
 
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said, "This tribute is important and a lasting statement about the value of inclusion, the strength of our diversity and the power of grace and how it changes hearts.  This statue comes at a time when there are many conversations about historical monuments going on nationally and within the state.  When the time comes, I'm confident in the city of Atlanta that we will walk it together as we have again, again and again."  Other statues on the Capitol grounds include Confederate General John B. Gordon and segregationists Senator Richard Russell and Governor Eugene Talmadge.  The sculpture's installation comes more than three years after Georgia lawmakers endorsed the project.  Bringing the statue into reality took multiple struggles.  Officials had to negotiate with Dr. King's family for the right to use his image.  Then the artist selected for the project was killed in a motorcycle accident.  After a lengthy screening, sculptor Martin Dawe was chosen to replace him.  Dawe said he knew other tributes to King had been criticized and he set one goal:  Make the statue look like the man.


Victory in Texas
In August a federal court in Texas permanently blocked the state's latest version of its discriminatory voter photo ID law, SB 5.  This law was designed to suppress the vote of black and Latino Texas voters.  The law allowed some forms of photo ID like gun permits to be used to vote, but not many other photo IDs disproportionately held by minorities, like public university IDs and state or federal employment IDs.  The Campaign Legal Center, which represented Texas voters in challenging these discriminatory voter photo ID laws, said that while they are grateful that the court once again agreed that the Texas photo ID law was written in order to discriminate, they also know that this will not be the last fight to secure voting rights for all American citizens.
 

Presentation by Lanny Kaufer: "My Summer Working for Martin Luther King Jr.
On October 15, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Ojai, California, hosted Lanny Kaufer and guitarist Roger House for the multimedia presentation "My Summer Working for Martin Luther King Jr." and a celebration of National Multicultural Diversity Day.  Lanny's presentation centered around a slideshow of approximately 200 slides, many of which have music embedded to represent the "soundtrack" of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's.
 
Lanny's presentation.jpg
 
The Church announcement states, "Lanny also sings, raps, and plays guitar and harmonica to add more musical flavor to the program as he shares his personal accounts including working for Dr. King's SCOPE Project in Virginia in 1965 and witnessing the incredible courage of the African-American people of the South who stood up for their rights, at great personal risk, after 300 years of oppression.  The presentation will include the history of Jonathan Daniels, an Episcopal seminarian and civil rights activist who was murdered in August of 1965 while protecting the life of 17 year old Ruby Sales.  In 1991 Daniels was designated as a martyr in the Episcopal Church, and is recognized annually in its calendar."


SCOPE50 Membership Application - Reminder
On August 16 we sent you an e-mail concerning the SCOPE50 Board decision to create membership categories; a copy of the membership application was attached to the e-mail.  If you have not yet sent your membership application to me (John Reynolds), please don't forget to do so.  Sending in the membership form is a first step in preserving our history.
 
If you have questions or need me to send you another copy of the form, please e-mail me at JohnR99773@aol.com.
 
 
 
 

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