'Treated like a criminal for wanting to read'

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-jackson18.html

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- It never occurred to Elaine Means 45 years ago that she would be arrested when she marched on the city's whites-only main library branch with seven other black high school and college students -- including the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

She was only thinking of the hypocrisy of a public library whose doors were closed to her because her skin wasn't the right color.

"I knew that I shouldn't have to use the substandard facilities we were forced to use," Means said, referring to the much smaller library branch reserved for blacks. "I had no idea . . . I'd be treated like a criminal for doing nothing more than wanting to read."

Means and the other members of the group known as the Greenville Eight were arrested July 16, 1960, for staging a 40-minute sit-in at the Greenville County Public Library, an act that ultimately led to the desegregation of the library and helped facilitate the end of Jim Crow segregation in Greenville and throughout the Deep South.

On Sunday, Jackson, Means and Dorris Wright, another of the Eight, reunited at Springfield Baptist Church, the starting point of their march on the library, for a service celebrating the 45th anniversary of their arrests.

[jojo54]

1. Good for them!

I'm glad they got back together for a reunion. No one should have to fight for a basic right in our so-called democracy. It just goes to show how we have come so far, especially African Americans, but there's still a long way to go.

[xxqqqzme]

2. I am so happy to see these

milestones honored. It serves to remind people how far as well as how ittle we have moved in the last 40 years.

tooo bad the women's movement didn't do the same.

[raccoon]

3. The Civil Rights movement is a shining example of how

it takes grass-roots activism to bring about real change.

If all those who engaged in rallies, sit-ins, peaceful demonstrations, etc., hadn't done so, this sort of thing would still be going on.

But I guess I'm preaching to the choir. :-)

[gratuitous]

4. Well, as we all know from the media

It was the compassionate conservatives of the Republican party that fought these battles so that civil rights were guaranteed for everyone. It was those rat bastard Democrats who fought tooth and nail to make sure Blacks remained second class citizens in their own country.

At least, that's the snake oil that Ken Mehlman was trying to peddle to the NAACP last week.