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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAn important lesson I learned in 1965.
As a 19 year old college dropout, I drove my beat-up $100 car to Alabama because Selma was happening. I ended up arriving too late to cross the Edmund Pettus bridge, but stood in the crowd and listened to Dr. King give his "How long?" speech.
I was among a number of white people in that crowd, but had no idea what I could actually do to help. So, I asked. More than one person told me that the best way I could help was to listen, try to understand, and not to explain my ideas of what people should do. My input was neither desired, nor needed. So, that's what I did. I listened to what the people around me were saying. There was a lot of variety in what they said, but everyone I listened to had something worth hearing. I learned a great deal.
I was not in Alabama long. I was still too unsure of myself to be of much use to anyone or any movement, so I moved on to continue my own journey of discovery, which lasted for several more years, and still continues today.
But I learned that listening and trying to understand was the most important thing for someone who was not directly affected or harmed by the racism and hatred that was so evident. The term "whitesplaining" did not exist, but I got that it was not helpful or useful. That was the lesson I took away from Alabama, fifty years ago. It has been a useful lesson in many ways.
HooptieWagon
(17,064 posts)And say you weren't humble enough before them? #BowDownMineralMan?
Interesting that Sanders civil rights support was welcome in the 60s, when Hillary was a Goldwater Girl opposing the Civil Rights Act. Now she has 100s of millions of Wall St dollars to hire people to do her dirty work.
MineralMan
(146,333 posts)it was "their fight," not mine and that I should stay out of it. Others encouraged me to become involved through voter registration and other efforts. Nobody called me any names, though. I asked, and I got answers. I listened, and gained a better understanding.
Beyond that, I have no comment on your post.
mcar
(42,376 posts)K&R for common sense!
MineralMan
(146,333 posts)BumRushDaShow
(129,543 posts)The issue we see today and that you saw 50 years ago and that ironically happened just over 50 years before that, is something that many of us have tried to point out regarding a large but loyal segment of the population who support liberal/progressive ideals (whenever we actually had the legal ability to even vote and even then, when we couldn't but pushed for reform anyway - in every era of this nation).
As a note about the "50 years before that" - During the Suffragan movement, you had black women like Ida B. Wells-Barnett, who was an activist in the anti-lynching movement and eventually got involved in the push for voting rights for women, But not so ironically, the following excerpt (from Northern Illinois University) basically summarizes what happened -
Despite the progressive attitude of white female Illinois suffragists, they refused to support her in the historic suffrage march in Washington. Carrying banners representing almost every state in the Union, thousands of parade marchers underscored the demand for universal female enfranchisement. Wells-Barnett was one of sixty-five enthusiastic delegates from Illinois and one of many black women who participated in the march. But the African-American women were instructed to gather as one unit at the end of the procession because the NAWSA forbade the integration of state affiliates in the march. Wells-Barnett refused to comply with the NAWSA demand and instead lined up with her state contingent. Grace Wilbur Trout, president of the Illinois Equal Suffrage Association and chairperson of the group, initially sanctioned the integrated group. But after meeting with a NAWSA official, she told the delegation that Wells-Barnett could not march with the state contingent. Further, if they failed to follow the instructions set forth by the NAWSA, the entire delegation would be denied participation in the march.
Angry at the blatant disregard for her rights as a woman and as an Illinois resident, Wells-Barnett refused to comply. It was time to confront racism within the suffrage movement. Southern women, she argued, had evaded the issues of race, and the NAWSA and its state affiliates had allowed it. She wanted the Illinois group to show the nation that it was progressive enough to stand against NAWSA's hypocrisy of oppressing women because of their race while embracing the idea of equality for all women at the ballot box. Her pleas, however, fell on deaf ears. So did the pleas of two white colleagues, Belle Squire and Virginia Brooks.
http://www.lib.niu.edu/1996/iht319630.html
MineralMan
(146,333 posts)The problems are of long, long standing. When will we learn?
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)Stuart G
(38,449 posts)I agree with you completely..
If we watch people carefully and listen at the same time, and say nothing our ability to learn is incredible.
If we are always telling everyone our views, what do we learn?.
.Further if we listen and watch very carefully, we can often tell who is lying and who is telling the truth. That too opens a new door to understanding. Your post is terrific, and thank you for sharing with us your experience...Stuart..
Kali
(55,025 posts)listening to understand and not to react, even more rare
riversedge
(70,311 posts)In solidarity