Show Thursday January It 1992 Tha Eagla Pag 7 another July 1964 - Lt Col 11 Revolution Lemuel Penn The Washington DC educator was driving home from Army Reserves training when he was shot and killed by Klansmen in a passing car Feb 26 1965 - Jimmie Lee Jackson Was beaten and shot by state troopers as he tried to protect his grandfather and mother from a trooper attack on Civil Rights marchers His death led to the march and the eventual passage of the Voting Rights Act Selma-Montgome- ry 1965 March 7 State troopers beat Black marchers at Edmund Pettus Bridge Selma Ala 1965 - Rev March 11 James Reeb The Unitarian minister from Boston was among many white clergymen who Joined Selma marchers after the attack by state troopers at the Edmund Pettus Bridge He was beaten to death by White men while walking down a Selma street March 25 1965 - Viola Gregg Liuzzo After seeing televised reports of the attack at the Edmund Pettus Bridge the Detroit housewife and mother drove alone to Alabama to help with the Selma march She was driving back to Selma from Montgomery when she was shot and killed by Klansmen in a passing car June 2 1965 - Oneal Moore Was killed when he and his par'ner were pasted by gunfire from a passing car He was one of two Black deputies hired to appease Civil Rights demands 9 July 1965 Congress passes Voting Rights Act of 1965 18 July 1965 - Willie Brewster Was shot and killed by White men on his way home from work The men belonged to the National States Rights Party a violent neo-Nagroup involved in church bombings and murders of Blacks zi 20 Aug 1965 - Jonathan Myrick Daniels The white Episcopal seminary student from Boston was shot to death by a deputy sheriff in Alabama after he had been arrested at a Black voter registration demonstration jailed and suddenly released Jan 3 1966 - Samuel Leamon Younge Jr April 4 1968 - Dr Martin Luther King Jr The Baptist minister was a mayor architect of the Civil Rights movement He led and inspired nonviolent major desegregation campaigns including those in Montgomery and Birmingham When he won the Nobel Peace Prize he was the youngest to ever receive the award at He was assassinated as he prepared to lead a demonstration in Memphis "We must hear the words of Jesus echoing across the centuries: love your enemies bless them that curse you and pray for them that despitefully use you' In spite of the mistreatment that we have confronted we must not become bitter and end up hating our white brothers As Booker T Washington said let no man pull you so low as to make you hate him "If we protest courageously and with dignity and Christian love when the history yet books are written in the future somebody will have to say There lived a race of of people Black people who had the moral courage to stand up for their rights And thereby they injected a new meaning into the veins of history and civilization"' Dr MLK - - The Bill of Rights guarantees free speech Otherwise it might all have been a dream It was August 28th 1963 a sweltering summer day in Washington Near the steps of the Lincoln Memorial more than 2CK)JOOO people of all races and backgrounds pressed their way just to be near him lo hear the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr proclaim the words that will outlive us all: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their characterrThis speech moved Americans closer to equality and reshaped the fabric of our society forever fcw moments have more gloriously exemplified the power of free speech guaranteed by the First Amendment Yet there are countless more humble examples of how free speech functions every day as a cornerstone of our freedom Free speech allows any candidate to state a political platform publicly just as it allows any citizen to criticize a government official openly without fear of reprisal It allows for the free expression of ideas from both a theater stage and a street comer soapbox and from one backyard to another The Bill of Rights protects free speech for us all Was fatally shot by a White gas station owner following an argument over segregated restrooms Jan 10 1966 - Vernon F Dahmer The wealthy businessman offered to pay poll taxes for those who couldn't effort the fee required to vote The night after a radio station broadcast his offer his home was firebombed and Dahmer died of severe burns June 10 1966 - Ben Chester White Was killed by Klansmen who thought they could divert attention from a Civil Rights march by killing the plantation caretaker White was not involved in the civil rights movement July 30 1966 - Clarence Triggs He was shot through the head on Rights heelings Feb 27 1967 a roadside after attending Civil Wharlest Jackson Was killed when a bomb that was planted In his car exploded after he left work He had recently been promoted to a position previously reserved for Whites May 12 1967 - Benjamin Brown The former Civil Rights organizer was killed by stray gunshots from police who fired Into the crowd as he watched student protests from the sidelines Oct 2 1967 Thurgood Marshall sworn in as first Black Supreme Court Justice Feb 8 1968 - Sam Hammond Delano Middleton & Henry Smith Were shot and killed by police who fired on student demonstrators at the South Carolina State College campus A public service message from this newspaper and the American Bar Association |