Civil Rights Trail

I'm not a podcast person. But my lonely COVID-19 walks around the neighborhood this past year required more than my playlists named Quarantine, Corona Times, Phase 1, Phase 2, and--lastly--Jobless. So I gave in and listened to the podcast Driving the Green Book. Later I heard author Deborah D. Douglas talk about her book U.S. Civil Rights Trail and thought about how I hoped to have the chance to make the trip someday. I bought Ms. Douglas's book and shortly after that I found that chance.

In April, I decided to visit my sister and brother-in-law in California and then take a 'side trip' of about 1,900 miles to travel some of the trail. I wanted to learn more about the momentous events of the Civil Rights era that my parents lived through but--inexplicably to me--never talked about. How could you live through the events of the sixties and never talk about that revolutionary time? It makes no sense to me. I believe my parents had the duty to take action during that time to combat the racism and violence directed at Black Americans and they failed to help the movement.

While the struggle has never stopped, the advent and growth of the Black Lives Matter movement, punctuated by the murder of George Floyd last year, is a time for all of us to fight for equity and against racism and discrimination. One way I found  to work in and support the movement was to volunteer for Campaign Zero. I am one of hundreds of volunteers collecting and analyzing police collective bargaining agreements from law enforcement in cities and counties large and small across the country. Campaign Zero is an effort to change policing in America. Please join Campaign Zero if you can, or find a piece of the movement for equity and justice that you can contribute time or money to.

My trip started in Seattle, and will take me through Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi. My goal is to learn what I was never taught in high school. I have filled in many of these gaps through following Black Twitter; thanks for all the reading recommendations, BT! I also want to learn more about the policies and legislation behind our racist systems, and to learn the stories of individual and collective work by Black Americans that brought about change. 

Image of Edmund Pettus Bridge taken from Civil Rights Trail website.