Upon writing my last post two things happened. First, my friend Scott, upon reading my post, commented that there was a book similar to The Silence of our Friends titled March. Second, my wife and I had a discussion about The Silence of our Friends, race, and particularly about something that I had written in my previous post, "I read this book and think very highly of all of the white people who stood side by side with those who were fighting for the same rights as the majority." No, we didn't discuss its uneven flow of a sentence, there is probably a word or two missing that should be there for grammatical sense, what we talked about was how it often seems that it is the majority that tells the story of the minority and we are not only missing out on the actual story but also lifting up those who fight alongside as opposed to those who are actually a part of the struggle.
Part of me looks up to those who choose to stand alongside those who are fighting for their rights because of the courage they have to do so, especially in light of the cowardice that I so often show by not standing with those who are in the same struggle. But I do understand that those who stand beside have less to lose, they already have what other people are attempting to get. If Civil Rights had failed the whites would have went back to their neighborhoods with the same rights they had at the beginning of the battle, still been accepted in polite society, still went to better schools, sat in the front of buses, and generally not questioned about why they should be allowed to do the things they wanted to do. If Civil Rights had failed African Americans would have went back to their neighborhoods with the same rights they had at the beginning of the battle, accepted only in the company of like skinned individuals, been forced to sit where they were told and when they were told, been forced to go to crumbling schools with little supplies, and generally be questioned anytime they wanted anything from anyone that didn't look like them.
That is a wide gulf, and I am fully aware of it, but it is not my story. I read The Silence of our Friends because I found it on the library shelf and it caught my attention, it told the story of one moment of the battle for Civil Rights mostly from the perspective of a white family and it was informative, but it did not tell the whole story, nor the most important part of the story, hence I went looking for more. Which led me back to Scott's comment about another story.
For my 11th book of the year I read March Book One and March Book Two [Book Three is currently being written and when it arrives on shelves I will also read that] written by Congressman John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and illustrated by Nate Powell. That last name should sound familiar to those of you who read my previous post as Nate Powell was also the illustrator for The Silence of Our Friends. To those of you versed in politics or the Civil Rights movement the name John Lewis should also be familiar with you having been a key member of the movement, including speaking during the 1963 March on Washington, the same March that included Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.
[to those of you keeping track I am using March Book One and Book Two to cover "XVI. A book you learned about because of this challenge" on my book list]
The books are told from the perspective of Congressman Lewis retelling his story, from his beginnings on a farm in Alabama through his first brushes with Civil Rights to his rise in the movement, to a family who has come for the inauguration of President Obama.
March Book One spans Congressman Lewis’ youth in rural Alabama, his introduction to the nonviolence movement, his first meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr., the birth of the Nashville Student Movement, and their battle to tear down segregation beginning with occupying lunch counters, building to a climax on the steps of City Hall. We are shown the love of education that pushed the Congressman to follow his heart as opposed to his father's wishes. We see his eyes being opened to how his people are being treated through the experience of a northern visit with his uncle. We see into his first experiences with the way of Ghandi and Jesus overcoming violence with nonviolence.
March Book Two takes us from the victory in Nashville forward into new battlefields. Congressman Lewis joins the Freedom Riders on a journey into the deep south by bus. We see the Freedom Riders faced with beatings, police brutality, imprisonment and murder, yet continue the ride with courage. We see Congressman Lewis in prison. We witness George Wallace's "Segregation Forever" speech. We see the behind the scenes workings of the beginning of the "Big Six" [Martin Luther King Jr., James Farmer (founder of CORE), A. Phillip Randolph (organizer of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters), Roy Wilkins (executive director of the NAACP), Whitney Young (National Urban League), and John Lewis (president of SNCC)]. Book Two culminates with Congressman Lewis's speech at the 1963 march.
March Book One and Book Two are very much worth your time if you are at all interested in the Civil Rights movement. They are written by a man who was very much a part of the struggle, a man who was beaten and put down, a man who overcame the violence through force of will, a man who rose up not with fists and guns but with words and a conviction that what was promised in our founding documents was an ideal to fight for.
As Soren Kirkegaard said, "Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards." Is this ever more true than in a story told from the moment an African American man becomes president of a nation that once enslaved his race? The struggle of John Lewis and millions like him moved our country forward, step by step, into a bright today, but today is not the end point, it is not the goal, the struggle continues and we must live it forwards.
Peace and Love,
Pastor K
p.s. If you are in Anderson and would like to read these books our public library does contain a physical copy of March Book Two, but March Book One is only available as a digital resource through Indiana Digital Media.
No comments:
Post a Comment