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Personal Reflection
June 12th, 2012
It is interesting to “live through” events related to the civil rights movement for the first time even though I was actually alive during 1955 – 1968. I find myself wondering why this is the case: Growing up in the rural North and being nurtured in a Christian faith with a suspicion of the social gospel could be two contributing factors. Juanita Abernathy, who accompanied her husband in most of the demonstrations, told us that the march up North in Chicago was very different from the marches in the segregated South. It was much more vicious, full of hatred, and personal. While I never experienced Jim
Crow segregation first hand or even second hand in rural Ohio, racism was alive and well in the North in different but equally devastating ways. This is clearer to me now, and something I will we be thinking about in the next few days.