GROWING UP IN THE 60's & MARCHING WITH DR. KING -- A conversation with Brenda Delgado (Ep. #1.3)

08/20/20 • 48 min

Episode # 1.3 -

Former Civil Rights Activist, Brenda Delgado discusses what it was like growing up becoming an activist and marching with Dr. King during the tumultuous 1960s. She speaks with Cayman about what that experience was like and how it compares to today--and what Dr. King himself may think of what’s happening here in America 52 years later.

Before there was #resist, there was resist a 1960s movement. The turbulence and civil unrest of the 1960s was never just a protest. It was a movement, a civil movement demanding change. Today's hashtag resist does not exist without this previous movement, or without the sacrifice of those that came before us. What’s going on today represents the same broken political and judicial system from the 1960s—but told from the exact same yet different set of youth.

The effects of that very powerful and haunting time has transcended into today's modern culture –with the #Black Lives Matter movement -- The only thing that's changed is the calendar year—

The hotbed is back with a new set of youth – the same lens from the same exact American youth of the 1960s.

Brenda Delgado was one of those youth of the 60's, who grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, during the Civil Rights Movement and was activated at a very young age, marching with civil rights leaders including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

She talks about life growing up in the south as a descendant of a slave owner's son and the legacy of her family, the civil rights movement and where we are today in America.

The effects of that very powerful and haunting time has transcended into today's modern culture –with the #Black Lives Matter movement -- The only thing that's changed is the calendar year—

The hotbed is back with a new set of youth – the same lens from the same exact American youth of the 1960s.

Previous Episode

"GOOD TROUBLE" : A Tribute to Civil Rights Icon John Lewis

GOOD TROUBLE: A Tribute to Civil Rights Icon, Congressman, John Lewis
(Ep. #1.3 Bonus)

Honorable John Lewis's Own Last Essay.

The late civil rights icon and Georgia representative John Lewis died on July 17th, 2020 at the age of 80 and was laid to rest on Thursday, July 30th, 2020. His strength and activism inspired millions around the world, his unwavering commitment to justice and equality must never be forgotten.

Honorable John Lewis's Final Words:

"Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of Our Nation."

John Lewis wrote the essay shortly before his death, and requested that it be published on the day of his funeral. This is the first several paragraphs of it:

"While my time here has now come to an end, I want you to know that in the last days and hours of my life you inspired me. You filled me with hope about the next chapter of the great American story when you used your power to make a difference in our society. Millions of people motivated simply by human compassion laid down the burdens of division.

Around the country and the world you set aside race, class, age, language and nationality to demand respect for human dignity. That is why I had to visit Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, though I was admitted to the hospital the following day.

I just had to see and feel it for myself that, after many years of silent witness, the truth is still marching on. Emmett Till was my George Floyd. He was my Rayshard Brooks, Sandra Bland, and Breonna Taylor. He was 14 when he was killed, and I was only 15 years old at the time.

I will never ever forget the moment when it became so clear that he could easily have been me. In those days, fear constrained us like an imaginary prison, and troubling thoughts of potential brutality committed for no understandable reason were the bars.

Though I was surrounded by two loving parents, plenty of brothers, sisters and cousins, their love could not protect me from the unholy oppression waiting just outside that family circle. Unchecked, unrestrained violence and government-sanctioned terror had the power to turn a simple stroll to the store for some Skittles or an innocent morning jog down a lonesome country road into a nightmare.

If we are to survive as one unified nation, we must discover what so readily takes root in our hearts that could rob Mother Emanuel Church in South Carolina of her brightest and best, shoot unwitting concertgoers in Las Vegas and choke to death the hopes and dreams of a gifted violinist like Elijah McClain.

Like so many young people today, I was searching for a way out, or some might say a way in, and then I heard the voice of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on an old radio. He was talking about the philosophy and discipline of nonviolence. He said we are all complicit when we tolerate injustice.

He said it is not enough to say it will get better by and by. He said each of us has a moral obligation to stand up, speak up and speak out. When you see something that is not right, you must say something. You must do something. Democracy is not a state.

It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with itself. Ordinary people with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul of America by getting in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble.

Voting and participating in the democratic process are key. The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society. You must use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it. You must also study and learn the lessons of history because humanity has been involved in this soul-wrenching, existential struggle for a very long time...

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Next Episode

QUALIFIED IMMUNITY: What is it? (Listener Question)

Listener Question - (Prelude Ep. #1.4)

WHAT IS QUALIFIED IMMUNITY?

Host, Cayman Grant talks about "QUALIFIED IMMUNITY"-- what it is, where it came from and why it matters that the Supreme Court has chosen not to review the most recent cases brought for review.

Get a free audible book download at http://www.audibletrial.com/whitespeak