Yesterday I made a post about the negative impact Oprah Winfrey and her money making movie machine is sure to have on Selma, Alabama. In that post I said do not expect these movie makers to tell you the truth. I have been asked what truths I am talking about. Well, the truth of the matter is there are so many untold truths about the perilous days of the 60s a better movie could be made with these truths than the one Oprah is about to make which is sure to be full of distortions and untold truths. I have decided to write this since I believe the question, what are the truths is a legitimate one. Time and space will not allow me to expose them all but here is one such truth many of you have never heard. This is a fairly long read but I believe whether you are black or white, worth your time. Prior to the days when Selma, Alabama was chosen to be the whipping boy and the place to kick start the national civil rights movement, blacks and whites for the most part lived in complete harmony. That is not to say there were not some inequalities and changes were not in order, but it is to say these inequalities were not unique to Selma, Alabama. In those days every city in America was locked into discriminatory practices and policies which had nothing to do whatsoever with the people who lived in those cities. These policies were for the most part dictates of the government. Not only state government but federal government. When I finally get around to telling you the real truth why Selma, Alabama was chosen as the place to kick start this movement, it aint gonna be pretty. This truth is sure to get the dander up of many. I will go ahead and give you a hint and tell you it had more to do with the fruits of our city and little to do with the so called resistance of Joe Smitherman, Jim Clark, or Wilson Baker. The frequent visits of MLK was not just because he had been given a free place to stay in a little out of the way back room. In any case I was asked about a documentable truth. Well, here goes; Back when civil rights leaders including MLK were having regular meetings in our local black churches, using every reason in the book to get the crowds all riled up about the so called mistreatment of blacks in Selma, Alabama, the greatest majority of the blacks in Selma, Alabama, were not being mistreated and in fact enjoyed a peaceful and loving relationship with their white counterparts. I must assume I did not grow up on an island where my childhood was any different than others in the city. I must assume the treatment of blacks around my dads business was not any different than it was around other businesses in the city. During the time of my childhood growing up in Selma, Alabama, I had black childhood friends which were treated the same as my white friends. These good people are still my friends today. We have always gotten along wonderfully well, even during the perilous times of the 60s. At my dads business or shall I say businesses, we made no distinction between blacks and whites. My dad was in the grocery business and for a time in the fast food business. We had a policy. If you were hungry you ate. If you had no money you still ate. If you were white, you ate. If you were black, you still ate. It was the way we treated each other as human beings. If it was any different at other places throughout Selma, Alabama, I never heard about it. However there was a time of great unrest in Selma, Alabama. There was fear instilled among the blacks. Blacks who had absolutely no reason to fear. Blacks who had done business with whites for years were now scared to even buy groceries from their white merchant friends, my dad included. To make matters worse, in those days many whites and blacks existed week to week, grocery wise. In those days folks who needed groceries but had no money, whether they be black or white, bought one week and paid the next. If a hardship came and it was not possible to pay at the end of the week they still were given the privilege of eating another week with no money. Some ate for a month or more without ever paying a dime. Dad always said, take care of folks when they were down and they will take care of you when they are up. We did not limit this truth to folks of particular color. Why all of a sudden, after years and years of loving and peaceful living and coexistence were these black folks afraid to even buy groceries from their white friends? The truth is, during these meetings in local black churches including the famous Brown Chapel, with speakers such as MLK himself, blacks were encouraged and sometimes mandated to boycott city wide, white merchants. Obviously those which came from the outside had no concern what a hardship this would cause their own people. In my mind it certainly appeared these civil rights leaders were willing to sacrifice their own people or at least use them as pawns to get their way. Well, as daddy said, these people gotta eat. Especially those without money to go elsewhere and buy food. I am very happy and proud to tell you our black customers who were literally scared to death and too afraid to come and by groceries out of fear and repercussions from their own, never missed a meal. Through the love and goodness of my dad he devised a plan. My dads plan made many black folks in Selma, Alabama mighty happy. My entire family pitched in. Under cover of darkness we delivered groceries to our black friends. Not because we needed the money because many had no money to pay. Now you just think about it for a moment. Would any of you white folks, deliver groceries alone to a black neighborhood at night? Yes I would say Selma, Alabama lived together in peace and harmony before the days of the perilous 60s and before the outside agitators invaded our city. It makes me sad to know these days even I do not drive through black neighborhoods at night. Yes, times have changed and definitely not for the better. God Help Us All.
Posted on: Sun, 18 May 2014 15:10:35 +0000
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