Members of SNCC wore buttons like these to show their support for civil rights equality. Image credit: www.history.com
Throughout the course of this trip, we’ve met some pretty amazing people with amazing stories of what it was like living in the 1960s. The Civil Rights Movement was a hard time to live through for black and white people. The violence was staggering and it’s a good thing that Martin Luther King, Jr. and the other leaders told people to be nonviolent.
It must take a lot of courage to be able not to defend yourself when someone is hurting you. Self-defense is a natural reaction to any situation. We either decide to fight or flight. The veterans we’ve talked to said that some of the situations they were in were terrifying, but in the end it was worth it.
So how can today’s youth and young adults get involved to make social change? It’s actually not that difficult. All you have to do is find something that you’re passionate about, join the corresponding organization, participate and then spread the word about your cause.
A lot of the Civil Rights veterans worked for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and Roscoe Jones, our tour guide in Meridian, Miss. said that adults were not present for most of the committee’s activities. Adults helped guide them, but the teenagers were the driving force.
I think that goes to show that any group of people can have power and make social change. If people stand their ground and keep fighting for they want, eventually it will come.