Then and now.

Today we were honored to meet with another Freedom Rider, Ernest “Rip” Patton. He was part of the student movement from Nashville that desegregated the businesses in the city, and continued the Freedom Rides after the first groups had been shut down in Alabama. He was ultimately arrested in Mississippi, and sent to Parchman Prison, the only high security prison in that state. At the end of his presentation I asked how he might wish our response to police violence and racial injustice in the last year might have been more effective, if we had followed some of the ideas from his generation. First, he condemned all the violence, looting and rioting. But he also said he personally believed that George Floyd was a God planned sacrifice for the sake of opening the eyes of our nation, and the world to continued injustices, both in our country, and around the world. If he had only been arrested for his counterfeit bill, this never would have made the news at all. But just like his city of Nashville, Dr. Patton believes that the incident in Minnesota was God sent. Are we listening to the message?    Roseann Sachs

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