WEBVTT - 102123 Way Black History Fact - 1961 Freedom Riders

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<v Speaker 1>For now, it's time for the Way Black History Fact.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's Way Black History Fact is sponsored by an underground

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<v Speaker 1>beach club from the Streets to the beach. For the

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<v Speaker 1>latest in beachwhere, visit Underground Beach Club dot com. All right,

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<v Speaker 1>today's message comes from Atlanta Journal Constitution. We're going to

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<v Speaker 1>talk about freedom Writers, and the headline says freedom Writers.

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<v Speaker 1>Our allies were American Jews, So this is when Jewish

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<v Speaker 1>people were supporting black people in this country. There's been

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of this and we've talked about things like

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<v Speaker 1>this in the past.

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<v Speaker 2>This feels topical.

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<v Speaker 1>And important, and you know, this show is about Allyship.

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<v Speaker 2>This is a tough episode to do correctly.

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<v Speaker 1>But we're going to try to espouse some moments in

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<v Speaker 1>history where Allyship has kind of moved the narrative forward.

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<v Speaker 2>All right.

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<v Speaker 1>In nineteen forty six Treme Court decision ruled segregated seating

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<v Speaker 1>on interstate buses was unconstitutional throughout the South. However, these

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<v Speaker 1>rulings were basically ignored, so in the spring of nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>sixty one, a group of seven black and six white

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<v Speaker 1>activists organized by the Congress of Racial Equality put the

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<v Speaker 1>decisions to the test by riding Greyhound and Trailway buses.

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<v Speaker 2>From Washington, d C. Through the Deep South.

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<v Speaker 1>The Freedom Riders, as they were called, also planned to

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<v Speaker 1>use white's only restrooms and sit at a white only

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<v Speaker 1>lunch counter. The buses were met by angry whites in

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<v Speaker 1>many cities, and the police would often give the mobs

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<v Speaker 1>ten to fifteen minutes to beat the activists before putting

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<v Speaker 1>a stop to the violence. In Birmingham, Alabama, it was

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<v Speaker 1>mostly fists and they forcefully threw us to the back

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<v Speaker 1>of the bus, said Charles Pearson, a Moorhouse College student

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<v Speaker 1>at the time and at eighteen, the youngest of the

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<v Speaker 1>core Freedom Riders. He goes on to say, what prevented

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<v Speaker 1>me from getting more savagely beaten was two of the white.

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<v Speaker 2>Writers came to my rescue. Quote.

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<v Speaker 1>In our fight for freedom, we had allies, said Atlanta

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<v Speaker 1>businessman and civil rights activist Hank Thomas, was a Howard

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<v Speaker 1>University student when he joined the Freedom Writers. Goes on

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<v Speaker 1>to say, just like the defeat of Germany involved allies,

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<v Speaker 1>we had allies, and our allies were the American Jews.

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<v Speaker 1>Fifty percent of all the Freedom Writers were eventually white,

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<v Speaker 1>added doctor William Harbor, and this part comes from I

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<v Speaker 1>believe it's Eish dot Comish. I believe it's Light or

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<v Speaker 1>Flame and maybe Yiddish, but it's a Jewish website, all right,

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<v Speaker 1>added doctor Harbor, and I believe that if we didn't

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<v Speaker 1>have the participation of young white students, we wouldn't have

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<v Speaker 1>been this far as far as progress in the United States.

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<v Speaker 1>And I want to say this too. In the nineteen sixties,

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<v Speaker 1>hundreds of Jews worked tires tirelessly to advanced civil rights.

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<v Speaker 1>Two of them were murdered. And this is again doctor

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<v Speaker 1>William Harber. He says, quote, I am one freedom writer

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<v Speaker 1>who will never ever forget the assistance of Jews. So again,

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<v Speaker 1>there's solidarity here. You know, there's there's a history of

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<v Speaker 1>working together.

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<v Speaker 2>You know.

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<v Speaker 1>Hank Thomas, who is American figure, sorry, a major figure

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<v Speaker 1>in the American civil rights struggle and one of the

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<v Speaker 1>first freedom writers who traveled throughout the American South in

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<v Speaker 1>the sixties, was another person to again espouse this relationship

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<v Speaker 1>between black people and Jewish people.

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<v Speaker 2>Obviously, the NAACP has its roots in the same

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<v Speaker 1>Sort of composition, and it's times like these that we

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<v Speaker 1>want to remember who supported us and support them as

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<v Speaker 1>best as we know how as led by our hearts

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<v Speaker 1>in their times of needs, so it just felt topical

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<v Speaker 1>to share this