Episode 2452: Reverend Clarence Varner ~ Youth Civil Rights Marcher, Vietnam Veteran talks bout the Impact TODAY of Voter's Rights since Historical 1960 Selma to Montgomery
Manage episode 417184487 series 3573234
Nat'l Media , Historic Event
I am BOTH a Northerner & present Washingtonian who was born after the Historic Marches for My Civil Rights to Vote, Education, Public Accommodations,Transportation & Employment
Major Media Nationally & Internationally covered in the Marches. Citizens & Celebrities also participated:
Joan Baez, James Baldwin, Harry Belafonte, Tony Bennett, Leonard Bernstein, Sammy Davis, Jr., Billy Eckstein, Dick Gregory, Lena Home, Mahalia Jackson, William Marshall, Johnny Mathis, Nina Simone, Susan Sarandon, Pernell Roberts, Peter,Paul & Mary....
My Guest is the Reverend Clarence Varner who was in Grade School when he joined the Marches for Civil Rights in the 1960's. Although it cost Him is Part-Time Job while a Teenager, He held on to his Beliefs to Stay in the Fight, even getting Arrested Several times & Tear Gassed, Cattle Prod Shocked, Attack Dogs & Fire Hosed because he stood with others to Petition the the Governor for the Right for Blacks to Vote.
Rev. Clarence Varner served The United States in the Marine Corps for 8 years & served in during Vietnam during the War , he was wounded. Today he serves his God, Country & Community in the continued fight for Civil Rights
*In 1965, Blacks could not:
*go to eat, Blacks were served at the Side or Back Door.
*Social Movie Theatres, & Clubs too
*Schools in the South & other State were Segregated
*Housing was Segregated in Much of America. Redlining was the norm.
* Thriving Middle Class Black Business's in Black Communities were forced out of Business due to the Federal Highway's that were built OVER that land.
* Separate water Fountains & Bathrooms
*Separate Transportation on Buses & Trains, etc.
* Upper Corporate Jobs were not opened to most Blacks\
These Marches were ignited by the Death of SCLC local Jimmie Lee Jackson
What did Jimmie Lee Jackson accomplish?
Jimmie Lee Jackson, was a Vietnam veteran, Baptist deacon, activist and martyr of the Civil Rights Movement. Jackson, active in the fight for equal rights, had tried multiple times to register to vote in Alabama and was denied each time.
When Jimmie Lee Jackson saw his frail 80-year-old grandfather rudely turned away from the registrar’s office in 1962 after attempting to register to vote in Marion, Ala. He knew he had to join the civil rights movement.
On Feb. 18, 1965, he was among more than 200 people participating in a night march in Marion. Before they had walked a block, they were confronted by state troopers and the police chief, who ordered them to disperse.
Jackson and his mother huddled for safety in a café. When Jackson’s grandfather entered the café bloodied and beaten, the young man tried to take him to a hospital. But they were quickly shoved back by a crowd of club-swinging troopers and terrified marchers.
Another trooper pulled his pistol and shot Jackson in the stomach. It was two hours before Jackson arrived at the hospital in Selma. He died eight days later.
At one of two services for Jackson, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. told a crowd of 2,000: “Jimmie Lee Jackson’s death says to us that we must work passionately and unrelentingly to make the American dream a reality. His death must prove that unmerited suffering does not go unredeemed.”
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