Posted Sept. 17,  2007 – This week students at the University of Maryland were given a history lesson without opening a text book.  The campus was swarmed by the media and the administration was up in arms over a noose found hanging from a tree outside campus building where Black student organizations were headquartered.  

This incident, coupled with the now famous case of the “Jena Six,” who are facing prison time for their reaction and retaliation to a similar display of racism on their high school campus in Louisiana, is reminiscent of the post-Reconstruction Era. ?

If Black folks have forgotten why there was a Civil Rights Movement, these recent incidents in school yards and college campuses should be a reminder.

African American’s can’t begin to discount the impact of  the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s march on Washington, Rosa Park’s bus boycott in Birmingham or the 1955 lynching of 14 year-old Emmett Till.  These were turning points in America history.

Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) spent his youth as a foot solider in the Civil Rights Movement, and he’s concerned about what’s ahead.  That’s why he’s  bringing attention to the danger of doing away with the Civil Rights Division in the Department of Justice. 

Lewis notes some disturbing reports about what’s to occur within the division under the Bush administration. For example, career civil rights attorneys have been pressured to change rulings about state election laws, which in turn violates the Voting Rights Act.  This type of behavior, like the firing of U.S. attorneys, which is now under investigation, could be the tip of the iceberg.

Earlier this month, Lewis testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee to stress the historic significance of the Civil Rights Division and the need for its service.  He also wanted to raise a red flag about department practices following the departure of former Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales.

 Lewis’s testimony was personal, practical and from first-hand experience as a young college student and activist.  “People of color couldn’t vote; they couldn’t register to vote.  They paid a poll tax.  Black people could not sit on a jury.  Segregation was the order of the day.  It was so real.  The signs were so visible.  People were told to stay in their place.  People were beaten; people came up missing.”

 I hope we haven’t loss the momentum of 50 years of struggle. I hope today’s youths  understand what’s at stake, and I hope Black folks realize the dangers ahead if they don’t actively participate in the system to guarantee what they take for granted.
 
Lewis reflected on his experience and told the committee, “In some instances it amounted to police – and state-sanctioned violence against people of color.  Black people were afraid and White people were afraid to speak out.  It truly was terror.”

Lewis is right racism is “terror.”