From: Olga Bourlin (fauxever@sprynet.com)
Date: Sun Feb 02 2003 - 14:12:29 MST
From: "Samantha Atkins" <samantha@objectent.com>
> Lee Corbin wrote:
>
> >>Or were the civil rights protests
> >>of the 60's obnoxious as well?
> >
> > Yes, to me, they were. Note I'm not debating the
> > efficiency of such tactics, but merely denying that
> > in this case the end justifies the means.
>
> The means of the original civil rights marches were utterly
> peaceful and non-violent. Hardly a more gentle but determined
> means to end a great evil could have been used. The means in
> this case were beautiful, powerful and example of people putting
> themselvels on the line to oppose oppression.
Couldn't agree with Samantha more. Not long ago was watching a documentary
about Bayard Rustin (civil rights leader who engineered the whole 1963 March
on Washington, but about whom not much was written because Rustin was gay in
a time when being in the closet seemed to be the safest bet). Among other
things, the documentary portrayed the original 1955-56 bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama (which eventually resulted in the city's busses taking
down signs dictating "Negroes go to the back of the bus"). Although I had
read about it and seen the bus boycott presented in other documentaries such
as "Eyes on the Prize" - I was again taken by the sheet nobleness of the
boycott. The word Samantha used ("beautiful") was exactly the word I used
in remarking to my husband - "Damn, that was a beautiful thing." If Lee
Corbin ever sees that documentary (originally produced by HBO) and tells me
he thinks that that bus boycott was "obnoxious" ... I'll eat my firstborn.
Olga
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