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Three Witnesses to the Struggle for Civil Rights

Peter Robinson
@PeterRobinson
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Mary Bush, Freeman Hrabowski, and Condoleezza Rice grew up and were classmates together in segregated Birmingham, Alabama, in the late 1950s and early ’60s. We reunited them for a conversation in Birmingham’s Westminster Presbyterian Church, where Rice’s father was pastor during that period. The three lifelong friends recount what life was like for Blacks in Jim Crow Alabama and the deep bonds that formed in the Black community at the time in order to support one another and to give the children a good education. They also recall the events they saw—and in some cases participated in—during the spring, summer, and fall of 1963, when Birmingham was racked with racial violence, witnessed marches and protests led by Dr. Martin Luther King, and was shocked by the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church. The latter event resulted in the deaths of four little girls, whom all three knew. The show concludes with a visit to a statue of Martin Luther King Jr. erected in Kelly Ingram Park—where in 1963 Birmingham’s commissioner for public safety Bull Connor ordered that fire hoses and attack dogs be used on protestors. There, Condoleezza Rice discusses Dr. King’s legacy and his impact on her life.

Recorded on December 12, 2023.

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Discussion (3)

  • Skyler@Skyler

    Many of MLK's followers (Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, etc.) have been notorious race hustlers, but they were pikers compared to what we have now.

    The past fifteen years make all the advances in civil rights a farce. The people of this nation really came a long way in driving to equality. Was the world perfect? No, but we were on a close approach to that asymptote.

    But since Obama and the "greatest influencers in his life" (communists, his words, not mine) we have had a massive deterioration of this ideal.

    The acrimony is intentional. The inevitable push back is specifically desired. It's all a corollary to Ayn Rand's classic quote:

    “Did you really think we want those laws observed?" said Dr. Ferris. "We want them to be broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against... We're after power and we mean it... There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, Mr. Reardon, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with.”

    ― Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

    Just change crime and criminal to racism and racist and it's the same equation.

    Whatever good MLK might have done has been completely undone, because they've found that there's even more power to be had this way.