MLK Weekend

After a few days of unseasonably and unreasonably warm weather (50 degrees in January in Crimson City? the end of the world is nigh, I tell you), the temperature slid down to a cool 20 degrees or so yesterday. It was actually -8 last night.

I've been accidentally celebrating the memory of Dr. King by doing my research on Supreme Court backlash for a professor. Each day this weekend I dutifully went to the undergrad libraries and flipped through copies of journals from 1968 and 1969, skimming as I went along: riots, protests, new presidents, assassinations. A sober way to spend the holiday weekend, but certainly appropriate.

Last Thursday, I went to a screening of February One, a documentary about the Greensboro Four. These were four black college students who went into Woolworth's on Feb. 1, 1960, sat at the counter, and politely asked to be served. Their actions spurred a number of sit-ins throughout the south, and in about 6 months, Woolworth's gave in and served black customers at the counters formerly reserved for whites. (This photo was shot as they were leaving the first day.)

The four were fed up, and angry, and afraid. They expected they might be beaten up. The first day, a policeman was called into the store, and the cop walked back and forth behind their backs, slapping his baton into his hand, looking for any excuse to drag them out. They gave him none.

An elderly white woman came and sat down next to the four young men, and told them that she was disappointed in them. "Why?" they asked. For not doing this sooner, she said, and slid off the seat and into the annals of history.

Only one of the four students, David Richmond, stayed behind in Greensboro, NC, and suffered the consequences -- he could never find a job where his supervisors obliquely or openly didn't punish him for that act of sitting down. He died before the making of the film.

The other three became stock brokers, chemists, caretakers of the disabled. Richmond worked a series of jobs in Greensboro. There was footage of him working as a janitor. The other three moved to Massachusetts, New York, other parts of North Carolina. For them, Greensboro became one chapter of the story of their lives. But David Richmond stayed, and Greensboro stayed a part of his life.

Someone in the audience suggested that Richmond had other problems (he was an alcoholic, for one) and that his life might have been worse if he hadn't taken part in the sit-in. Certainly that seems possible. But it also seems very possible that by staying in Greensboro, Richmond suffered the fate of many who stay behind, of those who don't leave, of those who carry on the burden of everyday life when the camera crews are gone and the flush of victory is over. Whatever his motivations were for staying behind (he apparently stayed to take care of his ailing parents), he poignantly reminds me of the real price paid for heroism.
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I really enjoyed seeing that documentary, and learning about the sit-ins. I love learning facts, learning the inside story. I don't know if it's history, or the civil rights movement, or the personal stories of those involved that fascinate me so, but there's something there.

Despite the many hours spent so far on it, I'm also enjoying this research project. Fussing around with original source material is so fun.
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So I put a little moratorium on writing about Not-Gay Boyfriend, from whom I haven't heard a peep since Wednesday night. But here's my little message to him:

Dear Not-Gay Boyfriend:

Okay, so Wednesday was a little awkward and weird. You arrived later than I expected, I was already there, hanging out with you and your friends may have been premature. And there is that small matter of you having just ended a 3-year relationship.

Despite all that though, I think you should contact me. Reason? It's good to have a little distraction when you're going through a rough emotional time. I'm pleasant and fun (mostly), and patient and non-judgmental (mostly). And you interest me. So go ahead, Not-Gay Boyfriend, take the plunge. Only connect, dude. You won't regret it.

Your (possible) BFF,
hk