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A review by coffeechug
The Freedom Summer Murders by Don Mitchell
4.0
Moving on to much deeper level of fear in terms of dealing with race I read The Freedom Summer Murders. I found this to be a very powerful read. The murder of three people working hard for the right to vote for African Americans that probably only drew attention in the wya that it did because two of them were white. This story did a nice job setting the stage and taking a look at how things operated back then(which was not that long ago). We claim we live in a society of democracy, but I don't know that that democracy is always fair and just. I was really drawn into this storyline.
One line that stood out to me was when I was reading about Andrew Goodman and he was described as, " ....(his) background shaped him but didn't in any way define him, in that he went out and he was his own person."
As I read this book this statement stood out to me. We must move beyond our circumstances to be who we want to become even if everyone else does not see the vision.
Later, the following quote really struck a chord with me especially with the current events of today.
"The unfortunate thing is that it took this kind of symbol to make the rest of the country turn its eyes on the fact that there are bother bodies lying under the swamps of Mississippi. Until the killing of black mother's on becomes as important as the killing of a white mother's son, we who believe in freedom cannot rest."
Wow! Here is a story from 50 years ago and really we have the same issue on our hands. If I was teaching a language arts or history class I would be using this story to connect dots with current events of today to try and find some new awareness about who we are as a society.
It is because of fear that events like this happen time and time again.
One line that stood out to me was when I was reading about Andrew Goodman and he was described as, " ....(his) background shaped him but didn't in any way define him, in that he went out and he was his own person."
As I read this book this statement stood out to me. We must move beyond our circumstances to be who we want to become even if everyone else does not see the vision.
Later, the following quote really struck a chord with me especially with the current events of today.
"The unfortunate thing is that it took this kind of symbol to make the rest of the country turn its eyes on the fact that there are bother bodies lying under the swamps of Mississippi. Until the killing of black mother's on becomes as important as the killing of a white mother's son, we who believe in freedom cannot rest."
Wow! Here is a story from 50 years ago and really we have the same issue on our hands. If I was teaching a language arts or history class I would be using this story to connect dots with current events of today to try and find some new awareness about who we are as a society.
It is because of fear that events like this happen time and time again.