Source: The Washington Post / Getty
It has been 60 years since Dr. King and Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) joined forces with Mukasa Dada and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to organize and mobilize the calls for voting rights into a full-fledged campaign for human rights in Selma, Alabama. We often talk about one day in particular, but we know little about the work and the people behind the so-called Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Just like you and millions around the world, I now have been to the bridge, took my photos at the courthouse and attended the Selma Jubilee. But did you know that today’s Civil Rights Movement is following suit with the freedom fighters of years past? Neither did I, until I spoke with them and learned their stories firsthand.
Without knowing it, the current movement is mimicking tactics and strategies of the ’60s. The biggest similarity wasn’t the protesting but the nationwide coordination after deaths and violent events against our people. The SNCC organization was the yang to MLK’s SCLC. SNCC was organized by one of the GOATs in organizing Ella Baker. She brought together youth, mostly college students and had them for the SNCC organization. SCLC was spearheaded by Dr. Martin Luther King and was made up of three 30-something youth pastors who were great mobilizers of the people and the resources. According to Mukasa Dada (formerly known as Wille Ricks), who was already actively organizing with others like Kwame Toure and SNCC members in Lowndes County and all across the south. What both groups’ instincts told them about Alabama was that the masses would be moved to protest, march, canvas, or even publicly express dissent when bad things happen to good people. Sound familiar?
Source: Michael M. Santiago / Getty…