Page 21 - Hasan News Today

If he waved them down, and that we had a car that looked like theirs. - [catherine] you know, i was a kid, but i knew that there was a reputation of violence. in my home, we had guns in every corner. my father taught all of my brothers how to shoot. and that was common in every home in lowndes county. - [john] a lot of black people came up missing. thats why it was called bloody lowndes. - [hasan] lowndes county was 80% african american. then at the start of 1965, had zero registered black voter...

- [hasan] stokley was arrested in greenwood. and hes hot, hes pissed, right? hes like, "i mean, how many times are we gonna do this?" - [mukasa] stokely came back out of jail. i told stoke, "we gotta talk about black power." and stoke said, "oh man, be cool on that." - [hasan] he heads out that night to the mass meeting thats happening outside. and so he gets up and hes talking about you know, "ive been arrested 27 times or so. im not gonna be arrested anymore." and off in the distance is willie...

- [john] the majority community was positive about sncc, but they were afraid. some of em didnt want to get caught up in they didnt know what was gonna happen. - [judy] we know that theres a reason why its called bloody lowndes. it is called that because of the absolute unrelenting violence, if youre trying to get black rights. if youre trying to register to vote, if youre trying to get more land, i mean, some of it is just random violence. (siren) im amazed that black folks, somehow knowing the...

Bob mants, is one of the key people who did that and he got married and settled in lowndes county, and continued until his death to work there. - [john hulett] and after this long struggle, we still have people who come out here on this sunday night and listen to us talk who have waited faithfully with us in this county, are still sending their children to these overcrowded schools. - [person in crowd] yeah. - let me say this, the elected officials of this county will do everything possible to k...

Such a dangerous place. - [courtland] freedom summer was about bringing the country to mississippi and creating the mississippi freedom democratic party that eventually made the challenge in atlantic city. (ominous piano music) - [ella] the message that the freedom democratic party believes, that a political party should be open to all of the people who wish to suscribe to its principle. - [hasan] the democratic national convention, which occurs in atlantic city in august of 1964 is really a piv...

- [james] you know, we wanted, you know, a movement that would survive the loss of our lives. and then therefore then the necessity to build a broad based movement and not just a charismatic leader. - [hasan] atlanta would house the headquarters of sncc with ruby doris robinson and judy richardson, making sure the organization as a whole ran efficiently. - [judy] when i first come in the organization, i dont know any of the stuff all these people know. theyre all brilliant to me. everybodys bril...

- [hasan] when sncc first comes into the county, theyre not staying in lowndes county, alabama. theyre going back to selma where snccs regional headquarters was and theyre spending the night there. and then theyre getting up early and coming back into the county and thats dangerous. its dangerous to be on the highway. - [john] i said, my daddy got a empty house. yall come down there and take a look at it. they came down and my father and stoke and them hit right off. first thing he said to him, ...

Negro who was gunned down on the highways of mississippi. - [mukasa] james meredith was a young student that integrated to university of mississippi. - [bystander] go home nigger! - [mukasa] riots broke out, people got killed. james meredith felt that even though you passed the voters rights bill, people still have fear. and he decided to walk from memphis, tennessee to jackson, mississippi 250 miles with a sign saying, "register to vote, have no fear." and when he stepped out in mississippi, a ...

Have awakened the conscience of this nation, we shall overcome. - [hasan] this is when we often look away from, sort this moment of civil rights. we say the voting rights act has passed, right? the white folk around the country, you know, in the north are like, "well, what else you negroes need?" right? "you got the voter rights. you know were done, right?" - [courtland] we werent just interested in the vote. we were interested in changing who ran the county. if were 80% of the county, why dont ...

From community to community, from city to city, from state to state, across this racist nation. so we can have the power in our hand. - [hasan] the lowndes county freedom organization serves as the inspiration for the black panther party for self-defense organized in oakland, california in 1966, but there are some real differences. while self defense was central to the movement experience in lowndes county, they did not organize around the gun, but in oakland, california, it was different. - [si...