Post by jefe on May 12, 2011 4:48:02 GMT -5
I lost a good friend in the World Trade Center almost 10 years ago on 9/11, someone I used to hang out with in New York in my 20s and one of the few HK born people memorialized on the plaque at Ground Zero. But, by far, the historical event that has shaped my life more than any other happened exactly 50 years ago this month.
In May, 1961, a group of men and women had their last meal together in Chinatown in my hometown of Washington, DC. The next morning, they each took one of two busses bound for New Orleans. These people never arrived to their destination. After they left Atlanta and pulled into my mother’s hometown of Anniston, Alabama on Mother’s Day, they were greeted by a mob dressed in their Sunday finest. When they pulled out of the bus station, the mob, mostly KKK, chased the bus in cars and made it stop on the outskirts of town. They broke the windows with lead pipes and firebombed the bus. The riders were viciously beaten as they fled the burning bus, and only warning shots fired into the air by highway patrolmen prevented the riders from being lynched. Only one burning bus escaped and managed to arrive to Birmingham, where they were greeted by police dogs and an even bigger mob armed with pipes and clubs. The bludgeoned victims were arrested and brought to jail. What did these people do to cause such a violent mob reaction?
Very simple – they sat together on the bus and in the bus station waiting room and shared public lavatories. They broke the fundamental law of the South – “White” and “Colored” were not allowed to mix in any way whether in public or in private.
It has been 50 years since the legendary FREEDOM RIDERS took their first bus rides from Washington, DC bound for New Orleans. But it was these “Freedom Rides” that brought what had previously been a *Southern* problem to national attention. Despite for the cooling off period requested by President John F. Kennedy who wanted to try to manage this embarrassment at the height of the “Cold War” (ie, the War against Communism), the Freedom Rides continued over the summer and expanded to “sit-ins” at lunch counters and restaurants and hotels. Later in 1961, President Kennedy’s younger brother Robert Kennedy who was the Attorney General, forced the Interstate Commerce Commission to enforce its previous bus desegregation ruling. By November 1961, the signs for “White” and “Colored” began to be removed from bus stations and lunch counters, and drinking fountains, toilets and waiting rooms were consolidated.
My connection? Besides having my “滿月” (month-old party) in DC’s Chinatown, in May 1961, as an infant, I also took my first bus ride from Washington, DC to Anniston, Alabama. My parents had a fight and my mother went back to her parents’ house. But her parents would not allow her to move back in with her new baby. Mobs organized by the KKK had just beaten and tried to lynch bus passengers who tried to challenge fundamental law of the South, even though that “law” had already been ruled unconstitutional. Local people who did not participate in the violence still believed that those *fools* got what was coming.
You see, my mother had broken another law – she left the state and married a man of a different race. I can understand why my grandparents could fear attracting violence or even lynching in their hometown. It would take until 1967 before the Anti-Miscegenation laws were repealed (Loving vs. Virginia). You see, even though by the end of 1961, hotels across the country were obliged to serve customers of any race, my parents, although husband and wife, could live in the same hotel, but could not share the same hotel room. They would have to live in separate rooms.
Yes, I lost a friend almost 10 years ago on 9/11, and am still filled with great emotion over the incident, but the incident with the most impact on my life happened 50 years ago this month in May, 1961.
In May, 1961, a group of men and women had their last meal together in Chinatown in my hometown of Washington, DC. The next morning, they each took one of two busses bound for New Orleans. These people never arrived to their destination. After they left Atlanta and pulled into my mother’s hometown of Anniston, Alabama on Mother’s Day, they were greeted by a mob dressed in their Sunday finest. When they pulled out of the bus station, the mob, mostly KKK, chased the bus in cars and made it stop on the outskirts of town. They broke the windows with lead pipes and firebombed the bus. The riders were viciously beaten as they fled the burning bus, and only warning shots fired into the air by highway patrolmen prevented the riders from being lynched. Only one burning bus escaped and managed to arrive to Birmingham, where they were greeted by police dogs and an even bigger mob armed with pipes and clubs. The bludgeoned victims were arrested and brought to jail. What did these people do to cause such a violent mob reaction?
Very simple – they sat together on the bus and in the bus station waiting room and shared public lavatories. They broke the fundamental law of the South – “White” and “Colored” were not allowed to mix in any way whether in public or in private.
It has been 50 years since the legendary FREEDOM RIDERS took their first bus rides from Washington, DC bound for New Orleans. But it was these “Freedom Rides” that brought what had previously been a *Southern* problem to national attention. Despite for the cooling off period requested by President John F. Kennedy who wanted to try to manage this embarrassment at the height of the “Cold War” (ie, the War against Communism), the Freedom Rides continued over the summer and expanded to “sit-ins” at lunch counters and restaurants and hotels. Later in 1961, President Kennedy’s younger brother Robert Kennedy who was the Attorney General, forced the Interstate Commerce Commission to enforce its previous bus desegregation ruling. By November 1961, the signs for “White” and “Colored” began to be removed from bus stations and lunch counters, and drinking fountains, toilets and waiting rooms were consolidated.
My connection? Besides having my “滿月” (month-old party) in DC’s Chinatown, in May 1961, as an infant, I also took my first bus ride from Washington, DC to Anniston, Alabama. My parents had a fight and my mother went back to her parents’ house. But her parents would not allow her to move back in with her new baby. Mobs organized by the KKK had just beaten and tried to lynch bus passengers who tried to challenge fundamental law of the South, even though that “law” had already been ruled unconstitutional. Local people who did not participate in the violence still believed that those *fools* got what was coming.
You see, my mother had broken another law – she left the state and married a man of a different race. I can understand why my grandparents could fear attracting violence or even lynching in their hometown. It would take until 1967 before the Anti-Miscegenation laws were repealed (Loving vs. Virginia). You see, even though by the end of 1961, hotels across the country were obliged to serve customers of any race, my parents, although husband and wife, could live in the same hotel, but could not share the same hotel room. They would have to live in separate rooms.
Yes, I lost a friend almost 10 years ago on 9/11, and am still filled with great emotion over the incident, but the incident with the most impact on my life happened 50 years ago this month in May, 1961.