Freedom Road: Rally for Alex Svoboda

"The Selma of the North": Civil Rights Insurgency in Milwaukee

Between 1958 and 1970, a distinctive movement for racial justice emerged from unique circumstances in Milwaukee. A series of local leaders inspired growing numbers of people to participate in campaigns against employment and housing discrimination, segregated public schools, the membership of public officials in discriminatory organizations, welfare cuts, and police brutality.

The Milwaukee movement culminated in the dramatic—and sometimes violent—1967 open housing campaign. A white Catholic priest, James Groppi, led the NAACP Youth Council and Commandos in a militant struggle that lasted for 200 consecutive nights and provoked the ire of thousands of white residents. After working-class mobs attacked demonstrators, some called Milwaukee “the Selma of the North.” Others believed the housing campaign represented the last stand for a nonviolent, interracial, church-based movement.

Patrick Jones tells a powerful and dramatic story that is important for its insights into civil rights history: the debate over nonviolence and armed self-defense, the meaning of Black Power, the relationship between local and national movements, and the dynamic between southern and northern activism. Jones offers a valuable contribution to movement history in the urban North that also adds a vital piece to the national story.

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Blurbs:

Think you know the full story of the civil rights era? Patrick Jones's masterful study of the movement in Milwaukee will make you think again. Meticulously researched and elegantly written, The Selma of the North provides a devastating rebuttal of many of the conventional narratives of the civil rights movement. Here a vibrant nonviolent movement in the de-industrializing Midwest grows into a Black Power movement led by urban youth and a white Catholic priest who use confrontational direct action to lay bare the fissures of racial inequality in the 'liberal' North.
--Jeanne Theoharis, Brooklyn College, editor of Freedom North and Groundwork

A well-researched, well-written, and important history. Based on a rich array of sources, this book enhances our understanding of civil rights activism in the postwar urban North and establishes a useful foundation for the comparison of similar developments elsewhere in the country.
--Joe William Trotter, Jr., Carnegie Mellon University, author of Black Milwaukee

This book fills a serious gap in the literature of the civil rights revolution, joining studies on other cities in laying the groundwork on race and civil rights in the postwar urban North. Jones tells a good story, capturing events that might otherwise be lost to history.
--Arnold R. Hirsch, University of New Orleans, author of Making the Second Ghetto

The Selma of the North is an insightful and invigorating addition to the growing literature on black freedom struggles outside of the South. Jones's important and informative account writes Milwaukee back into the narrative of the civil rights-Black Power era and in the process expands our understanding of postwar America.
--Peniel E. Joseph, Brandeis University, author of Waiting Till the Midnight Hour

The Selma of the North is a riveting new story of the civil rights movement in America, a tale on par with Selma, Birmingham, and Montgomery in its power and importance. Jones's magisterial research and magnetic prose illuminate the untold story of the battle for the urban north in the 1960s, a battle that shows how race has always been the Achilles heel of white progressives. This story transcends easy dichotomies of black and white, North and South, radical and reformist. How did a group called 'the Commandos' define nonviolence? How did a white Catholic priest become a 'Black Power' leader? If this is not a saga for the age of Obama, I don't know what is.
--Timothy B. Tyson, Duke University, author of Radio Free Dixie and Blood Done Sign My Name

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Rally for Alex Svoboda

About 250 people turned out this afternoon for a rally to support Alex Svoboda, the young Lincoln woman who was brutally and unjustly attacked by police officers in North Providence, Rhode Island, recently. Both of Alex's parents spoke emotionally to the crowd about Alex and the incident. They stressed how peaceful Alex is and how proud they are of their daughter's commitment to social justice. They also related the gruesome details of Alex's injuries. In short, the police virtually ripped off Alex's leg. Literally... all four ligaments were torn, the major artery severed, and most of the other connective wiring and tissue in the knee messed up. Alex has a long road back to health and may very well be impaired for the remainder of her life.

Here is the latest Journal Star article:
Journal Star article on rally

Please scroll down to my original post on this case to read more about it and to find out how you can help! Funds are needed to cover the expenses associated with Alex's various surgeries. Letters are needed to express citizen concern over this incident. Again, see below for details...

PLEASE, SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THIS CASE.

Here are some photos from today's rally (click any photo to enlarge):

Here is what one person wrote to the newspaper in R.I. I think it is compelling...

Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007

Americans have a sacred right to protest

"News and pictures of the police assault in North Providence on American citizens exercising their constitutional right to protest seem to reinforce the general view held by many around the world that the cause of civil liberty in the United States has taken a beating.

"The excuses for the police excess given by local authorities appear weak, at best. I applaud the courage of the small group of people who took to the streets to try and do something regarding a situation about which they felt strongly. Whether you agree with them or not, I should think that our American friends should be concerned that the freedoms of which Americans have always been justly proud have over recent years been eroded, while the power of the state to silence and intimidate has grown.

"It must not be forgotten that the right to protest and to speak up for the cause of the weak is a sacred right, paid for over the years by the blood of many Americans. It is how progressive change has been achieved in democratic societies.

"I hope that justice in this case will prevail, especially for the young lady who was severely injured."

Robert Neshevich
Milton, Ontario

1 comment:

AnonymousOctober 16, 2007 at 11:30 AM
Poem for Alex:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LnIDwd-9u8
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Freedom Road

My Book:

"The Selma of the North": Civil Rights Insurgency in Milwaukee

Blurbs:

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Sunday, August 26, 2007

Rally for Alex Svoboda

1 comment: