Greensboro sit-ins left mark on nation, By President Barack Obama (in local paper)

[jefferson_dem]

Obama: Greensboro sit-ins left mark on nation
Sunday, January 24, 2010 (Updated 7:47 am)
By President Barack Obama

In 1960, four young students from North Carolina A&T walked into a Woolworth store in Greensboro, North Carolina, sat down at a lunch counter and reignited a movement for social justice that would forever change America.

Inspired by the words and deeds of a young preacher who catalyzed a bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, Franklin E. McCain, Joseph A. McNeil, David L. Richmond and Jibreel Khazan (Ezell Blair Jr.) decided that enough was enough.

They knew they would be the subject of ridicule and bigotry upon taking their seats. But they also knew that what was happening in Greensboro and throughout the country was an affront to America’s founding ideals of freedom, equality and justice for all.

After ordering coffee and being refused service, the men who would become known as the Greensboro Four left the lunch counter, but the moments they sat in those chairs have had a lasting impact on our nation.

The quiet dignity of this simple act sparked other sit-ins in Greensboro and across the country.

The lessons taught at that five-and-dime challenged us to consider who we are as a nation and what kind of future we want to build for our children.

We know the rest of the story. One year later, the Freedom Riders made their brave trek across the South. Two summers after that, the same Montgomery preacher who inspired the Greensboro Four would stand on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and pronounce his dream for America. One year later came the Civil Rights Act, and the next year, the Voting Rights Act, which helped secure for African Americans — and all Americans — a fundamental right to share in the blessings of this country.

To the four young men who courageously sat down to order a cup of coffee 50 years ago, and to all who they inspired, I simply say, thank you.

http://www.news-record.com/content/2010/01/22/article/obama_greensboro_four_left_mark_on_nation

[racaulk]

1. I was in Greensboro last year and got to see that Woolworth store in person.

It was really neat, and kind of surreal, being there. There is already a small memorial outside of the store honoring these four men, but the store itself is under renovation. The area of the store where this event occurred is being redone to make it look like it did in the 1960s and some sort of tribute (I think statues of the men themselves?) will be on permanent display. Also, the location immediately beside the Woolworth is being converted into the International Civil Rights Center and Museum.

The location will have its grand opening next week on February 1, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of this historic moment.

Good stuff! :thumbsup:

Here are a couple of links:

http://www.sitinmovement.org

http://www.freelon.com/portfolio/203


Edited for clarity.

[jefferson_dem]

4. Hey, racaulk.

Thanks for sharing.

There are so many great historic landmarks that I still need to visit. The Greensboro Woolworths is one.

[Zenlitened]

2. Hmmm... is Pres. Obama subtly asking us to turn it up a notch?

Civil disobedience... it gets results, when it's well thought-out and carefully targeted.

If so, the question becomes: What technique(s), and what target(s) make the most sense today, for the challenges we face?

:shrug:

[FrenchieCat]

3. The Supreme Court Decision needs to be targeted....cause everyone and their mama

should know what this law truly means that was passed....as it is only then that a constitutional amendment could be passed; and in effect, that's what we need on this Supreme Court Activist rule.

A March to the Supreme Court Steps certainly could do something, if enough folks showed up; like a couple of millions! Naw, it will never happen. We are too comfy for that! We only like to be mad at the executive branch cause we can get rid of them, but we tend to have boo to say to the SCOTUS. Look at how we laid down in 2000. :(

[lunatica]

5. Don't forget the anti-war marches when millions of us turned out

I went to all of them and you probably did to. I'm very proud of the huge numbers of people who also went, but the media ignored us and Bush called us a 'focus group' and just like that we were dismissed and two wars were started while the media worked themselves into a tizzy of orgasmic excitement over the war in Iraq.

I've been wondering if the way to fight now is through our pocket books. That's the one thing they still need from us. Our money.

The way I see it there are two ways to fight them. Confront them with direct resistance or take away the power they have over us. They can easily beat us in a confrontation like marching or protesting by just ignoring us and surrounding themselves with barriers to keep us out (whether object or police, or even Blackwater security forces). They know we'll all have to go home sooner than later and the protest will soon be forgotten just like our marches against the Iraq war.

But if we take our spending power away their power will suddenly be useless. Well, not suddenly, but certainly in time.

I've been forced to due to my circumstances so I've already started. I may end up homeless but that doesn't scare me anymore.

[FrenchieCat]

6. I think both tacts should be employed....

as that was what happened during the Civil rights fight...whether the boycott or the marches, both together sent a strong message. The public-ness of marching on the Supreme Court Steps would be for the purpose of educating the folks who don't have a clue, which is the majority. Of course, without a fair and unbiased media, we end up with more constraints than we would in a real democracy, which had a real free press; and of course, the media is truly half of our problem, and them being corporate owned truly is part of the reason for that problem.

[Zenlitened]

7. I understand what you're saying, but I think a march is different...

... in some important ways. It's big, requires organizing on a large-scale, happens on one day and is centralized in one place.

The genius of the sit-in, IMO, was that it could spread simply based on word getting around and people saying, "That's a good idea." Then going ahead and doing it themselves.

Obviously, there was more to it than that, given that the backdrop to the Greensboro sit-in was the Civil Rights Movement itself -- hardly a new idea by 1960! Even the sit-in tactic itself was not new.

But these four young men sure made the technique "go viral," as we would say today. They started with four, and within a few days were joined by hundreds, then more sit-ins started springing up in other cities, in other states. That last part is the beauty of it, IMO.

No one had to send in for a how-to manual. No one had to order banners and placards, reserve space, obtain permits, make travel plans. People anywhere, any time, any place could spring right into action, if they chose.

So I guess I'm wondering if there is an equivalent, today, of the Woolworth's lunch counter, where both the injustice and the principled response to it could be so tangible and clear?

[FrenchieCat]

8. Daily sit in on the SCOTUS Steps? Like with no less than a minimum of 200 person daily

holding the logo of a Corporation and a large bag of make belief money in the other hand.....like they had in the Donald duck cartoons with the rich uncle duck?

Perhaps done on a rotating basis and talked about by the few liberal media personalities out there with a big enough microphone.

[Clio the Leo]

9. The first student sit in staged in Nashville was a failure....

.... the students, including future Rep John Lewis gave up, went home and never tried it again.

Of COURSE they didn't! ;)

They went back the next weekend and tried it again! ..... and again and again and again and again until, one day, they all looked up and their children and grandchildren were eating with one another and took doing so for granted (and I say "one another" because obviously the sit ins involved white students as well.)

Every now and then I'll catch myself sitting at the local Applebees with friends of mine in a city that saw a copy cat sit in itself .... my own aunt having worked at the Woolworths in Birmingham where yet ANOTHER copy cap sit took place, my father a veteran of the movement .... and I look at the scene around me and realize what it means and I catch chills.

The Joshua generation should honor them more than we do.

[FrenchieCat]

10. We need some frontline soldiers!

and we need them now! :patriot:

[Clio the Leo]

12. And some good old fashioned UNITY!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iAIM02kv0g

[FrenchieCat]

13. That would work. Can't do anything when busy ducking bullets from all over!

I'm gonna be writing to newspapers. As we know, soon newspapers will be no more...
the only left will be corporation's media.

[DeepModem Mom]

11. K&R