…..I just had breakfast, a breakfast of food that I would never eat at home. The person who invited me to have breakfast with her on this special morning is the only person I know of in Philadelphia who participated in “Bloody Sunday” or any of the real civil rights movement for that matter..That horrific march where we were attacked on that bridge in Selma Alabama. We sat there with instant coffee, a scrambled egg and fried baloney. ( shut the f*ck up to all my “healthy” eating friends… it was all she had, and I remember back when I was in the Black Panther Party I would be happy to get that ) we talked about those days when we were so young. But really wanted to change the world…For those among you who don’t know. Most of us were motivated by not wanting to see another generation grow up thinking “Jim Crow” was normal. We talked about how our post movement lives had turned out, as many of my friends have heard me me say , for many of us old soldiers we still live marginalized lives …struggling still light years away from any wealth. But in these times we can always think of some relative or friend who really did well when we finally got a little bit of a level playing field for or people. For me it’s my ( “little” brother ) who is a lead accountant for a huge company..a man who when he was three years old cried all night when he had to wet himself because we couldn’t find a “colored” bathroom at the farmer’s market…I can still hear that little voice saying “I don’t want to be colored anymore…Back when I was in the movement that memory was always helpful to motivate me to get the hell up and move on to the next thing…That brother hates my guts today but his success always makes me feel good.The woman I was dining with could not have any children…due to a botched “backalley” abortion …in that same year as the march, 1965. Her sisters had been taking care of her. That’s why she left Jackson Miss. to come to Philly. She spent her whole life taking care of her two sisters kids. When they both died she got left with nothing but minimal Social Security about 350 $ a month. But her eyes light up when she talks about the education and careers of her sister’s children….I get that….I really understand it I know a lot of people from the old days like that. And it makes me angry a little when some people in the current generation say that we didn’t do enough back during those days….they totally take for granted how many things they can do than most of us NEVER could….What happened on Bloody Sunday lead directly to the passage of the Voting Rights act of 1965….today the process of gutting the act a piece at a time threatens to undo a lot of that work….alright “smarty pants” “Millennials” .since you think you know every fu*king thing. I challenge you to try to help us save it…video just shows what we went through on that one day…don’t forget there was also bombing, arson and lynchings…..all directed at us.
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